Tonalist Arrives, Has Easy Jog
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Robert S. Evans' Tonalist, winner of the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I), arrived at Santa Anita Park late the night of Oct. 28 on a FedEx flight, a day or two later than expected.
Tonalist arrived along with trainer Christophe Clement's other two Breeders' Cup participants, Irish Mission (grade I Filly & Mare Turf) and Summer Front (grade I Mile).
The three horses were out Wednesday at 6:45 a.m. for light jogs and paddock schooling after walking on the ring at about 5:30.
"We were supposed to come Sunday or Monday, but Tex Sutton was not able to accommodate us," said Clement's assistant Christophe Lorieul. "We were supposed to work on the turf at Belmont Saturday, but they canceled turf works because of the weather and the soft course. So we postponed our works until Sunday, but the Tex Sutton flight was leaving at 7 that morning, so that didn't work.
"Christophe said, 'You know what, fly everything FedEx.' The flight went very smoothly."
Tonalist, a handsome, nearly 17.1-hand colt, had an easy jog once around the Santa Anita oval under exercise rider Lee Vickers before schooling in the paddock.
In addition to the Belmont and Jockey Club Gold Cup, Tonalist captured the Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II), and was second in the Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) and third in the Travers Stakes (gr. I) before Clement removed the colt's blinkers for the Gold Cup.