Bottle of Rouge

Grade I winner Bottle of Rouge (Vino Rosso), one of two GI Kentucky Oaks hopefuls for trainer Bob Baffert, will not contest Churchill's Classic for fillies, according to the Hall of Fame trainer on Sunday. At 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Bottle of Rouge who worked a half-mile in :48.80 with Martin Garcia aboard in company with the Grade III stakes-winning filly Forced Entry (Charlatan). Last year's GI Del Mar Debutante winner started to cough shortly after returning to the barn and subsequently failed to scope cleanly, prompting Baffert to scratch...

The prep season for the GI Kentucky Oaks came to a conclusion last week and the field looks more or less set. It should be a quality, competitive race with no clear standout. The big story last week was the win in the GI Ashland Stakes by Percy's Bar (Upstart). It was a powerful, eye-opening performance, one that was good that she has moved up in this poll from the 10th spot to the top spot. So, here goes, your latest and last Top 10 for the Kentucky Oaks: 1)...

NEW KENT, VA--Bob Baffert has an embarrassment of riches on his hands when it comes to classy 3-year-old fillies. Grade I winner Bottle of Rouge (Vino Rosso) joined stablemates Explora (Blame) and Forced Entry (Charlatan) in the top five slots of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard Saturday with her dominant win in the second running of the Virginia Oaks. Making her second start of the year, Bottle of Rouge crossed the country to Colonial Downs off a 1 1/2-length score in the Sunland Park Oaks Feb. 15. She...

DEL MAR, Calif. - Super Corredora (Gun Runner) cleared her eight rivals beneath an aggressive Hector Berrios heading into the clubhouse turn, and never looked back in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar. Favored 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Explora (Blame) was second. Fellow 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Percy's Bar (Upstart) was third. Super Corredora becomes the fourth Breeders' Cup winner for trainer John Sadler and first for Berrios. "She's a filly we had really high hopes for," Sadler said. "We're in our own...

At the Breeders' Cup World Championship, fractions of a second and tiny strokes of luck define legacies. Flipping through the past performances, it's easy to see only the numbers: the morning-line odds, post positions and speed figures that quantify each race. But for the people who know these athletes best—the grooms who understand their quirks and habits, the riders who have their stride memorized, the assistants who have thought through every nuance of their daily routine--these horses represent something else entirely. "Horses are like your family," said Tony Gutierrez, who...

Less than two weeks before the Breeders' Cup, a quartet of hopefuls--highlighted by GISW Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca)--turned in six-furlongs works Sunday at Santa Anita. With jockey Juan Hernandez aboard, Sweet Azteca was clocked officially in a swift 1:10.80. Trainer Richard Baltas timed the drill in 1:11.20. Also working six furlongs on the main track Sunday, all for trainer Bob Baffert, wereTDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard Nysos (Nyquist) (1:11.60), Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) (1:11.80) and last year's juvenile champion Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) (1:12.60). Nysos and Citizen Bull are...

Stablemates Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) and Kopion (Omaha Beach) were among several Breeders' Cup hopefuls to make an appearance Monday morning on the worktab at Santa Anita ahead of a multi-day rainstorm that's expected to arrive in the area later in the evening. Trained by Richard Mandella, Grade I winners Tamara and Kopion both worked three furlongs with the former being clocked in :37.40 (7/19) on the main track while the latter went to the synthetic training track and was timed in :39.80 (4/4). Kopion wears glue-on shoes, according to Mandella,...

Morgane Kervarrec knows she's not exactly known for being the most outgoing person on the backside. But for her, the job has never been about small talk or making appearances. It's about the work, the horses, and the quiet rhythm of morning training at Santa Anita. "People will say sometimes that maybe I'm not really social," Kervarrec admitted. "It's not that I'm tired of being social. I'm just tired of fake connections with people that you don't get with animals. That's why I picked this job. You deal less with...

Conor Wixted, Eleanor Dunne and Clare Manning look ahead to the Breeders' Cup after their graduate Bottle Of Rouge won a Grade I at Del Mar in the early hours of Sunday morning It started out as a pretty ordinary suggestion among friends. 'Why don't we go out and try and pinhook a foal in America?' Now, the Irish-based Conor Wixted, Eleanor Dunne and Clare Manning - otherwise known as Kids In America Bloodstock - are Grade I winners courtesy of Del Mar Debutante Stakes winner Bottle Of Rouge.  Bought...

2nd-Del Mar, $81,000, Msw, 8-9, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.91, ft, 6 3/4 lengths. BOTTLE OF ROUGE (f, 2, Vino Rosso--Blues Corner, by Bluegrass Cat), a well-beaten second behind her Bob Baffert-trained stablemate and Sunday's GIII Sorrento S. morning-line favorite 'TDN Rising Star' Himika (Curlin) on debut at Santa Anita June 12, was favored at even-money to go one better at Del Mar Saturday. She forced the issue from an inside second and led narrowly through an opening quarter in :22.18. Continuing to exchange blows with Super Corredora (Gun Runner)...