Carve and Unbridled Forever complete Breeders’ Cup work

Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – Carve and Unbridled Forever each had their final workouts Friday at Churchill Downs for next week’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.

Carve, trained by Brad Cox, completed his final work ahead of next Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with a half-mile breeze in 49 seconds.

“His work this morning was great,” Cox said. “He went a half-mile in :49 and galloped out really well.

“It’s exciting,” said Cox. “The horse is doing as well as he can do and we expect him to run well. Obviously we’re running to win, but I will be happy as long as he shows up. I honestly think he has what it takes to compete with these horses.”

Owned by Michael Langford, Carve was fifth in his most recent start, the $135,500 Homecoming Classic at Churchill on Oct. 4. The 4-year-old gelding is scheduled to fly to Southern California on Saturday morning. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will ride Carve for just the second time in the Dirt Mile.

Unbridled Forever, trained Dallas Stewart, covered five furlongs in 1:02.20 ahead of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The 3-year-old filly is owned by Charles Fipke.

“She had a great work,” Stewart said. “She was cruising at a high speed and galloped out nicely. One of her great qualities is that she doesn’t own her track. Whether it’s Churchill, Fair Grounds, Saratoga or Belmont she’s run well. So I expect her to run really well at Santa Anita.”

The 1 1/8-mile Distaff will be Unbridled Forever’s first time meeting older females.

“She ran well in Indiana, too,” Stewart said. “We ended up second best (to Tiz Windy) that day but she seems like she’s improved every day since. She’s more up on it every day on her gallops and hasn’t backed out of the feed tub a bit. We’re in good shape.

“She’s got a great rider in Johnny Velazquez so we’ll leave the trip up to him. But I’d guess she’d be somewhere in the middle; you can’t get too far back at Santa Anita.”

Categorized in: Horses