By Alan Carasso
Smart Call (SAf) (Ideal World), who won the G1 Maine Chance Farms Paddock S. in January to earn her way into the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf Nov. 4, resumed training earlier this week in Newmarket after being forced to miss an intended prep in the G1 Sun Chariot S. Oct. 1.
“She was sound after a few days and been getting better ever since and last Friday we were given the green light to resume work and press ahead for the Breeders' Cup,” trainer Alec Laird told South Africa's Sporting Post. “It's a pity that we missed the Sun Chariot as it was exactly five weeks before the Breeders' Cup race and fitted in nicely with our program. With this bump we've had to go to Plan B, which is to head straight to the Breeders' Cup without a prep, so at this stage that's where we are. The good news is that she is fitter than I thought–I have to say one certainly can get a horse fit at Newmarket–and she had been flying, so I think it's worth a try. For the first week we'll be working gingerly and we'll build from there. One day at a time.”
Laird told the Post that should all go according to plan, the 5-year-old will fly to California Oct. 29, with a searching gallop planned for on or around Oct. 26.
“Even if we don't go, all is not lost,” Laird told the publication. “We've got next year to campaign her if she's good enough and then she can be covered Southern Hemisphere time. One is obviously always a bit nervous when it comes to horses, so for now we're just hoping for the best.”
Bred and owned by Jessica Slack's Mauritzfontein Stud, Smart Call rides a four-race winning streak, capped by a defeat of the boys in the prestigious G1 J&B Met at Cape Town's Kenilworth Racecourse Jan. 30. With an eye on the Breeders' Cup, Smart Call entered the arduous quarantine process this past March, residing for the better part of three months on the island of Mauritius before journeying to England at the end of June. Smart Call's sire is a son of Kingmambo and Banks Hill (GB) (Danehill), who won the 2001 Filly & Mare Turf at Belmont Park.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
