Lea to Dirt Mile After Solid Main-Track Work

Bill Mott sent Lea   out to breeze on the main track the morning of Oct. 26 at Keeneland, and when the chestnut runner responded with a strong work and powerful gallop out, the Hall of Fame trainer said his charge will run in the Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) Oct. 30 rather than in the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) over turf the next day.

Lea breezed four furlongs in :47 2/5 under exercise rider Rodolphe Brisset, with an early quarter of :24 3/5 and a gallop out in 1:00 2/5. 

"He was doing it so easily," Mott said of the work. "If I didn't have a stopwatch, I would have thought he probably went in :49 or :50, looking at him. I wanted to see if he went well over the track. He runs well over both surfaces, but I saw no reason to breeze him on the soft turf today."

After a steady overnight rain softened the Keeneland turf course Oct. 25 and left the main track sloppy, more rain is in the forecast for Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 before sun breaks through on Oct. 29, Breeders' Cup Preview Day at the Lexington track.

"Lea is going in the Dirt Mile, number one, because he can run on the dirt," Mott said. "He's a grade I winner on the dirt, he's got a track record on the dirt, and it looks to me like the turf is going to be extremely soft. It was soft today, and I think with another couple inches of rain, it's going to be soft on Saturday."

Lea comes into the Breeders' Cup World Championships off a runner-up finish in the Sept. 13 Ricoh Woodbine Mile (gr. IT), his first start on turf in more than two years. With a 7-5-3 record from 18 starts and earnings of $2,182,398, he is a multiple graded stakes winner on the dirt and counts the 2014 Donn Handicap (gr. I) as his grade I main track score. 

"I think we would be a little compromised on soft ground," Mott said. "I think he loves the turf, I think he gets over good ground, but if it actually turns up soft I think it just eliminates, takes away our best chances."

Jose Lezcano will have the mount in the Dirt Mile; Joel Rosario, who rode Lea in the Woodbine Mile, has a prior comittment on Red Vine in the Dirt Mile.

With Lea entering the Dirt Mile, Noble Damsel Stakes (gr. IIIT) winner Recepta will run in the Mile, trainer Jimmy Toner confirmed. The 4-year-old Speighstown filly runs for Phillips Racing Partnership and Pam Gartin, and would have entered the Nov. 1 Goldikova Stakes (gr. IT) at Del Mar if she hadn't made the Mile field.

"Being on the also-eligible list, I didn't want to take a chance of going down there (to Kentucky), getting there, and then not getting to run and having to ship back here and everything," Toner said. "That's why I made back-up arrangements for a van. It's going out at 1:00 p.m. and she'll be there tomorrow morning.

"She's right on her regular schedule because I planned on going to California for the Goldikova, so she's remained the same. The only difference is, she would have been on the flight (from New York) early this morning. But it all worked out good and we're on our way."