Former Australian superstar So You Think has been installed the 5-1 third favourite for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
Formerly trained by Bart Cummings and now prepared by Aidan O’Brien in Ireland, the dual Cox Plate winner is coming off a second to Cirrus Des Aigles in the Group One Champion Stakes at Ascot in England on October 15.
Meanwhile, Classic favourite Uncle Mo was lying low on Tuesday, but trainer Todd Pletcher said the day off was by design and his charge was in good health.
“He just stayed in the barn,” Pletcher said.
“It gives you guys something to worry about, but I feel like we’re coming up to the race in excellent shape with what I feel is the most talented horse in the race.”
Uncle Mo’s health problems earlier this year mean that any deviation from his routine sparks immediate interest.
The colt, unbeaten as a two-year-old in 2010 and winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, was pulled out of the Kentucky Derby in May with an illness later diagnosed as a life-threatening liver ailment.
Back in action since August, he was installed as the early 5-2 favourite for the $US5 million ($A4.85 million), 1-1/4-mile (2000m) Classic.
He had his final workout on Sunday and went for an easy jog on Monday.
Illness has sidelined another Classic hopeful, however, as the Zayat Stable’s Prayer For Relief developed a fever and didn’t make the trip Tuesday from California.
The son of Jump Start, trained by Bob Baffert, opened this season with four straight victories and his lone defeat was a third-place finish in the Oklahoma Derby.
Prayer For Relief had drawn the rail and was one of five Classic runners priced at 30-1 on Monday.
Baffert will still have a runner in the Classic, highlight of the two-day, 16-race Breeders’ Cup program, in four-year-old gelding Game On Dude, the winner of the Santa Anita Handicap who was priced at 10-1 after the post position draw on Monday.
Uncle Mo, filly Havre de Grace (3-1), So You Think and Flat Out (6-1) were the only Classic runners listed at single-figure odds in early markets in the field now reduced to a dozen.
AFP AAP TURF
