Trainer of the Del Mar Mile winner comments on Breeders Cup "Win and You're In"
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from the San Diego Union-Tribune:
DEL MAR Irish-bred Ferneley was a 1½-length winner of yesterday's $300,000 Grade II, Del Mar Mile, a Win and You're In qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Santa Anita.
But there is a catch. Automatic berths go only to horses that have been made Breeders' Cup eligible by payment of preliminary fees, which Ferneley has not. A supplement has to be paid to enter, which would be $200,000 in Ferneley's case.
It would be nice if Win and You're In really meant win and you're in, said Ben Cecil, trainer of Ferneley. Unfortunately, we'd have to pay the supplement, which we won't do. So the Woodbine Mile looks like a good possibility. Or we could go to Hong Kong (for a day of big-money races) for free and get a nice trip out of it.
Ridden by Del Mar meet-leading rider Joel Rosario, Ferneley made a sweeping, four-wide move on the stretch turn, got the lead with just under an eighth of a mile to go and won clear over the filly Allicansayis Wow in 1:33.11 for the mile on turf.
Lethal Heat was third and Monterey Jazz, the 4½-5 favorite, finished seventh in the field of nine. Expected to simply sprint to the lead from the start under David Flores, as his style had been, Monterey Jazz pressed the pace of Knockout Artist to a half-mile in 46.26 seconds, stuck a head in front in three-quarters run in 1:09.57, and then became a nonfactor in the late going.
We're all puzzled at this effort, trainer Craig Dollase said of Monterey Jazz. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him, he just wasn't the Monterey Jazz we know.
Ferneley, a 5-year-old horse owned by the Silver Springs Stud Farm in Kentucky of David and Ian O'Rourke, won for the sixth time in 26 career starts and the third time in 11 U.S. races since being imported from Ireland a year ago.
The $120,000 winner's share of a total $238,000 purse boosted Ferneley's earnings to $405,824.
If Ferneley produced the major equine accomplishment of the day, the honor on the human side went to meet-leading trainer John Sadler, who saddled four winners from six starters and tied a track record for most wins in a day by a trainer.
Sadler had wins with Play Nine in the third race, Mona de Momma in the sixth, Dave In Dixie in the seventh and Icemancometh in the 10th. He also had a third-place finish from Bewitching Gem in the fourth and sixth from Becrux in the Del Mar Mile.
DEL MAR Irish-bred Ferneley was a 1½-length winner of yesterday's $300,000 Grade II, Del Mar Mile, a Win and You're In qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Santa Anita.
But there is a catch. Automatic berths go only to horses that have been made Breeders' Cup eligible by payment of preliminary fees, which Ferneley has not. A supplement has to be paid to enter, which would be $200,000 in Ferneley's case.
It would be nice if Win and You're In really meant win and you're in, said Ben Cecil, trainer of Ferneley. Unfortunately, we'd have to pay the supplement, which we won't do. So the Woodbine Mile looks like a good possibility. Or we could go to Hong Kong (for a day of big-money races) for free and get a nice trip out of it.
Ridden by Del Mar meet-leading rider Joel Rosario, Ferneley made a sweeping, four-wide move on the stretch turn, got the lead with just under an eighth of a mile to go and won clear over the filly Allicansayis Wow in 1:33.11 for the mile on turf.
Lethal Heat was third and Monterey Jazz, the 4½-5 favorite, finished seventh in the field of nine. Expected to simply sprint to the lead from the start under David Flores, as his style had been, Monterey Jazz pressed the pace of Knockout Artist to a half-mile in 46.26 seconds, stuck a head in front in three-quarters run in 1:09.57, and then became a nonfactor in the late going.
We're all puzzled at this effort, trainer Craig Dollase said of Monterey Jazz. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him, he just wasn't the Monterey Jazz we know.
Ferneley, a 5-year-old horse owned by the Silver Springs Stud Farm in Kentucky of David and Ian O'Rourke, won for the sixth time in 26 career starts and the third time in 11 U.S. races since being imported from Ireland a year ago.
The $120,000 winner's share of a total $238,000 purse boosted Ferneley's earnings to $405,824.
If Ferneley produced the major equine accomplishment of the day, the honor on the human side went to meet-leading trainer John Sadler, who saddled four winners from six starters and tied a track record for most wins in a day by a trainer.
Sadler had wins with Play Nine in the third race, Mona de Momma in the sixth, Dave In Dixie in the seventh and Icemancometh in the 10th. He also had a third-place finish from Bewitching Gem in the fourth and sixth from Becrux in the Del Mar Mile.