By Toby Turrell

At about 6:45 a.m. Bob Baffert yells up to me-"hows the track?"---I responded with a simple answer--"beautiful!!!!!" Moments later he says--"we are workin" and right then and there I had the feeling that I was in the right place at the right time as his runners would verify with their performance on Tuesday morning over the Pro Ride surface.

Indeed, my Breeders Cup experience started to take serious shape as I watched horses and training go to perhaps the highest level.  First, let me say that this surface at Santa Anita is in every shape of the word a  "Championship" surface as it accentuates quality like no other surface I have clocked horses on in my 30 years on the job. It is in my estimation the perfect hybrid of a conventional dirt track and a modern day synthetic track which will allow horses from all over the world to have an equal chance to earn a Breeders Cup championship.  Mr. Baffert worked 4 BC hopefuls and they all passed their a.m. test with flying colors. 

Always a Princess toyed with her workmate while finishing up with all the right energy for the BC Juvenile Fillies in 100.3 on my watch.  Next was "the beast" -- Zensational and he was as powerful as a horse could be going 22.3 thru the lane en route to a 46.2 bullet move. The undisputed heavyweight champ of the 2yo division Lookin At Lucky stormed home in a manner that said to all those watching good luck trying to take the belt away from me anytime real soon.  Last but not least was the private purchase of Arnold Zetcher's named Richard's Kid who just kept getting stronger with each 1/8 showing that he is thriving at the right time for the BC Classic at the end of the 2 day event.  Josie Carroll wouldn't allow the Baffert show to go solo however as she worked Careless Jewel in 111.1 and caught the eye of everybody as well including Mr Baffert who yelled down to Josie---"what did you get on her?.  In closing, the real testament to how great this surface is has only a fraction to do with how well all the BC hopefuls have worked on it. More importantly, it appears that as of the time of this article on Tuesday evening that all the BC horses have come out of their works with terrific looking gallops which most people will say is the biggest factor to a horses training.  I am beyond excited with what I have seen so far from all the BC horses and look forward to a couple more reports as the countdown continues on towards the Championship days.

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