Florida Cup Contingent Coming Together

Crossed Sabres Farm’s Valid (Medaglia d’Oro) has been green-lighted for a start in the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile by trainer Marcus Vitali after breezing five furlongs in a strong 1:00.85 at Palm Meadows Oct. 12. Winner of 10 of his 31 career appearances, the 5-year-old defeated Dirt Mile hopeful Bradester (Lion Heart) by 3 1/2 lengths in Monmouth’s GIII Philip H. Iselin S. over nine furlongs Aug. 30 and most recently cut back to seven panels to best the classy Falling Sky (Lion Heart) by a neck in the Sept. 26 Groomstick S. at Gulfstream Park.

“He’s amazing. He just likes to win races,” Vitali said. “While he’s in the mindset and I’m in the mindset and the owners are in the mindset, we might as well try it. He breezed awful fast. He did everything right and came out of his last race really good. He’s been training good, looking good, and I figured, there’s no time like the present.”

Vitali, who has never started a horse in the Breeders’ Cup, added that the two-turn configuration of this year’s Dirt Mile was a contributing factor in the decision to point for the race. He intends on keeping Valid in familiar surroundings as long as possible.

“I’ll probably ship a week ahead of time, give him a couple days over the track there,” he said. “I’m not going to do much with him now leading into the race; just try to keep him happy. I might give him a two-minute lick next weekend before I send him on his way. I think we’ve done enough with the drills. I think he knows what to do, and let’s hope it all works out.”

Despite dropping a narrow decision to Ageless (Successful Appeal) as the long odds-on favorite in the Buffalo Trace Franklin County S. at Keeneland Oct. 9, Lady Shipman (Midshipman) remains on track for the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint over the same course and distance Oct. 31.

The TDN Rising Star carried a four-race winning streak into the Franklin County, including a track record-setting success in the Smart N Fancy S. at Saratoga, in which she clocked 1:00.46 for the 5 1/2 furlongs over very fast turf. Lady Shipman led into the final eighth of a mile in the Franklin County after stalking the pace, but was tagged late. The final time of 1:03.66 belied the official going listed as ‘firm’ on that occasion. Trainer Kathleen O’Connell is happy to give her filly the benefit of the doubt.

“She got beat a head,” O’Connell said. “We didn’t tell her she lost; we just told her they ran out of camera film. She ran big. I think it was just a combination of everything that got her beat. She’s just a baby compared to the rest of them, and I think people forgot about the fact that she’s still a 3-year-old and that was just her 11th race. The turf was a little soft, it rained, [and] I don’t think she saw the other horse.”

O’Connell also indicated that Irad Ortiz Jr., who was in the irons for the Smart N Fancy, would regain the mount in the Breeders’ Cup, replacing Eduardo Nunez.

“The owner has decided to ride Ortiz,” O’Connell commented, hastening to add that she had no qualms with the way Nunez had ridden the filly. “That was the first time ever we had to lead her over with a lip shank, because she was that sharp,” she said. “You could see Eddie [Nunez] had his hands full the first part trying to rate her up the other horse, and I think it was just a combination of everything.