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October 25, 2007


TEAM VALOR’S THREE BREEDERS’ HORSES ALL WELL MEANT,
IRWIN SAYS THEY ARE ALL FRESH, SOUND AND RARING TO GO,
WEATHER IS BIGGEST CONCERN ABOUT DISTAFFERS RIGHT NOW


Team Valor International’s three female runners are all set for the annual rites of fall this weekend in the 24th Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will be raced for the first time in the state of New Jersey at Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport, 3 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
  • Unbridled Belle will contest the $2.26-million Distaff going 1 1/8 miles on the main track. Post time on Saturday will be 4:05 in race 9. She races for Team Valor International.
  • Tasha’s Miracle will run in the $2-million Juvenile Fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Post time on Saturday will be 12:30 in race 4. She races for TVI and Sydney and Joanne Belzberg.
  • Jazzy goes in the $1,125,000-million inaugural Filly & Mare Sprint over 6 furlongs on the main track. Post time tomorrow Friday will be 4:25 in race 8. She races for TVI, Des Scott and Robert Muir.
Although the morning line differs on each of the three entrants, with local handicapper Brad Thomas predicting that the TVI horses will go off at odds of 9 to 2 in the Distaff, 10 to 1 in the Juvenile Fillies and 20 to 1 in the F & M Sprint, in reality all 3 of the runners are in with huge chances, according to America’s Turf Authority Daily Racing Form.

Unbridled Belle is picked in the “Consensus” to win the Distaff by DRF’s 4 selectors, with 2 of them tabbing her to win. Kenny Peck, writing as the “Analyst,” says “UNBRIDLED BELLE was steadied some down the backstretch in the Beldame but she recovered to make a run on the turn to get into contention and she was game to wear down both INDIAN VALE and GINGER PUNCH, yet another solid effort for her this year. She's wide here but there's a good deal of speed to her inside, and she should be well positioned behind a rapid, contested pace in the Distaff; BEAR NOW, HYSTERICALADY and TOUGH TIZ'S SIS figure to help provide more than enough pace for her to make her presence felt late.” Timeform pays her the ultimate complement for a racehorse by characterizing her as being “very smart.”

Tasha’s Miracle is tied for second in the “Consensus” behind favored Indian Blessing and even with Grace Anatomy. Handicapper Paul Malecki picks the filly to win the race. “Closer Look” segment writer Mike Hammersly writes “Was the division leader out West after her easy G3 Sorrento win, but she had a setback and missed the G1 DMR Debutante; came back in the G1 Oak Leaf, loomed a threat into the lane but flattened out; that looked very much like a horse who needed the race; that also gives her route experience so with that run under her belt and the addition of blinkers could be she gets back to her previous form, and that would make her plenty scary to be sure.”


Irwin gazes at horizon with trepidation.
Jazzy is selected in a tie with La Traviata as the pick to win in the “Consensus” as of the 4 DRF handicappers one each selects Jazzy and La Traviata to win and one picks both of them to run second. Timeform says she ran very fast in winning the G2 Gallant Bloom last time and has her second in their speed figures on a par with La Traviata and 1 pound below Dream Rush. “Closer Look” scrivener Jim Kachulis writes “Only 3 outings this year but they were all brave and last season she ran into superior sprinter National Colour; should be far more inviting odds today and lack of main track experience may be the only knock on her chances; has finished out of the money only twice in her career and those attempts were at a mile, a distance clearly beyond her scope; dangerous.”

Barry Irwin, principal of Team Valor International, said “In terms of the quality of these fillies and mares and how they have approached the Breeders’ Cup, we could not have asked for more.

“All three are lightly raced, all three appear to be peaking and all three are sound. Unbridled Belle is making her fifth start of the campaign and has the barn’s complete admiration. Tasha’s Miracle is making her fifth start and acts like she needed her last race, after which she has breezed in 1:12 twice. Jazzy is making her fourth start and is holding her tremendous edge.

“It is like a dream for any stable to have three such animals enter the fray for the biggest day of their lives in such tremendous condition and it is tribute to their respective trainers, Todd Pletcher, John Sadler and Mark Hennig.

“But the best laid plans of mice and men oft times go awry and as I look out on the horizon here in Oceanport and glance down at the weather forecast on my laptop, I have to admit to getting a bit sickened at the through of what an off track would do to our chances.

“All three are bred to relish wet going. But Unbridled Belle failed in her lone attempt on a muddy track at Belmont last year when she failed to negotiate a tricky surface. Jazzy has never run on anything but turf until her last start, when she won on fast dirt. And Tasha’s Miracle has not even breezed or raced on anything but an artificial surface.

“While we will remain hopeful, it would be foolish to enter the fray with any sort of confidence if the track is wet. The rain clouds to have a tendency to lessen one’s enthusiasm for the days ahead and they do keep one’s emotions in check.”