Flat Out could compete as a six-year-old

Trainer Scooter Dickey was holding court with the media inside an empty stall

at Barn 47 on Wednesday morning, getting quite savvy in relation to the press

thanks to his spot in the limelight with Breeders' Cup Classic contender Flat

Out.

"Have you thought about what a win like this would mean to you?" one reporter

asked.

"You all sure are making me think about it," Dickey joked. "I'm mostly just

trying to train my horse, but everybody keeps asking me that question."

Training the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner has been going well this

week, and Flat Out galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Otto Aguilar. He

went to the track at 6 a.m. (EDT), which is when he'll go out Thursday.

"He'll do the same thing tomorrow morning, probably a little over a mile and

a half," Dickey said.

Many are already asking Dickey what would be next for the five-year-old son

of Flatter, and while making serious plans would be premature, the trainer has

indicated that owner Art Preston would like to race Flat Out next year.

"He worked really well on the turf before the Stephen Foster, when we were

thinking about maybe running him in the Firecracker," Dickey said. "He really

likes the grass as well. Mr. Preston said to me, 'what if we point him to the

(Grade 1) Arlington Million?' I said, 'I like the way you think.'" 

Owner Mike Repole made his first appearance at the barn of his two

three-year-old stars Wednesday shortly after 9:30 a.m. and quickly dismissed any

suggestions that something might be amiss with his 2010 Juvenile winner Uncle

Mo, who galloped 1 3/8 miles under Hector Ramos after a couple days of light

activity.

"This is his regular routine," Repole stated. "Usually he works and he kind

of gets two days (off). Stay Thirsty is a different type of horse. I don't know

if you guys know it, he (trainer Todd Pletcher) has five Eclipse Awards and he

kind of knows what he's doing. He's got different systems for each horse. It's

almost like when you're coaching players, you don't coach everybody the same.

That's what makes him so successful."

Pletcher said he took Uncle Mo to the gate Monday.

"I think he's doing outstanding," Pletcher said of the morning-line favorite

for the Classic. "He got over the ground really well today. He was very

enthusiastic and he seems like a happy horse."

Stay Thirsty, who was second in the Belmont Stakes before winning the Jim

Dandy and Travers stakes at Saratoga, also galloped 1 3/8 miles and visited the

starting gate Wednesday.

"I'm confident with both these horses," Repole said. "At the end of the day

when I read about these C-minus, D-plus works (for Uncle Mo), I get more

confident. 'Mo' could have gone to the (Dirt) Mile and been 3-5 (odds)."

Stay Thirsty finished a distant fifth in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile

behind his more celebrated stablemate, but a liver ailment put a serious dent in

Uncle Mo's sophomore campaign.

"He went into the winter with about as much buzz as you can have with a

two-year-old," Pletcher said. "He started off the year well, unfortunately the

liver infection cost us a big chunk of the spring and summer. But we're back in

excellent shape now."

Repole will have to split his emotions again, much as he did in the Juvenile

last fall on this same track.

"My first Breeders' Cup last year we didn't know what to expect --

anxiousness," Repole said. "Then we were just fortunate to win it. We'd love to

see them run 1-2 in the Classic."

Stay Thirsty drew post 9 for his fourth try at the 1 1/4-mile distance, a

task heretofore not attempted by his stablemate.

"I think he's in as good a form right now as he's ever been," Pletcher said.

"He's training like he did prior to the Jim Dandy and the Travers, so we're

really excited about the way he's coming into this race."

The final contingent of eight colts from the powerful stable of Aidan O'Brien

arrived at Churchill Downs on Tuesday at 8:22 p.m. and are housed in the second

quarantine barn. The flight included So You Think, a winner of three Grade 1

races this year and third choice on the morning line for Saturday's Classic.

Stablemates Await the Dawn and St Nicholas Abbey are headed to the Turf,

while Zoffany is entered in the Mile. Crusade and Daddy Long Legs are both

entered in the Juvenile, Wrote will enter the starting gate for the Juvenile

Turf and Harrison's Cave is a contender in the Marathon.

It is unlikely that any of the O'Brien colts will be seen on the track until

Friday morning.

Ice Box, the 2010 Kentucky Derby runner-up, schooled in the starting gate

Wednesday morning before galloping once around the Churchill Downs track.

"I might take him to the paddock tomorrow," Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito

said, before calling his Grade 1 winner "a live longshot."

Rated at 30-1 in the morning line, the son of Pulpit is winless in three

starts this year after returning from an injury-imposed layoff in July.

"I think all of the rust is off him. I can stand here and make excuses. But

we have three races now and this is what we've been thinking about. He had his

finest hour here last year. He's a live longshot," Zito said.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin sent Rattlesnake Bridge, a three-year-old son of

Tapit, to the track at Churchill Downs Wednesday morning for a 1 1/4-mile gallop

under exercise rider Rob Massey. Rattlesnake Bridge is coming into the Classic

off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby behind To Honor and

Serve and Ruler On Ice, a pair he will clash with again on Saturday.

"We hope Calvin Borel can settle him back toward the rear of the race and

make a run and pass a whole bunch of them," McLaughlin said. "It's a fast pace,

it looks like on paper, a quality fast pace. Hopefully, he can pass a whole lot

of them. Whether we can pass all of them, I don't know."

In other Breeders' Cup news:

Sprint contender Force Freeze left the barn around 9:10 Wednesday morning and

jogged one mile under exercise rider Marcos Orneos. Trainer Peter Walder held

the leadshank to walk Force Freeze to and from the track.

"Things have just totally turned around since I got this horse, and it's

nice," the 43-year-old Walder said. "It's been a long time coming."

The native of Montreal, Quebec, is well known for his success with runners in

the claiming ranks, particularly at Gulfstream Park and Monmouth Park, but this

six-year-old Forest Camp gelding is his first big-time contender. Owner Saeed

Naser Al Romaithi placed the horse in his care at the recommendation of Walder's

veterinarian after Force Freeze ran ninth in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen

this March.

"The owner has Arabians, and the owner's stable manager wanted somebody at

Monmouth to train the horse," Walder explained. "He asked the Arabian trainer,

the Arabian trainer called my vet, and my vet said 'There's only one person at

Monmouth I would recommend.' They wanted him to have a little personal

attention, and they called me out of the blue. I thought it was a joke when they

called, you know, 'We've got this horse just ran in the Dubai World Cup

Sprint…'. When the horse came off the plane I said, 'I guess this is for real,'

and here we are six months later."

Ladies' Classic hopeful Pachattack went to the main track Wednesday morning

and galloped about 1 1/4 miles under assistant trainer Andrew Morris. The

five-year-old Pulipt mare was all business Wednesday morning, in direct contrast

to her somewhat playful gallop Tuesday.

"The first morning she was a bit full of herself as she got acclimated to the

Churchill track," trainer Gerard Butler said. "This morning it was a job well

done. She went very good, even paced the whole way. I have no complaints."

Pachattack was part of a six-horse string the England-based conditioner sent

to Arlington Park this summer. Having raced solely on turf or synthetic surfaces

until she finished second in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign in her dirt debut,

Butler was asked if the Ladies' Classic rather than the Filly & Mare Turf was

the plan all along.

"Honestly, when he got her as yearling I told the owner that we'll get her to

the Breeders' Cup," Butler said. "(The Ladies' Classic) was always in the back

of our mind. I knew she would handle the dirt and was confident she'd pick up

her form.

"It's been a long time getting here. In her first start on the dirt, I think

the mile and a quarter was a stretch for her, so I'm glad we're turning back to

a mile and an eighth. The track seemed deeper at Saratoga than it is here. She's

coming up to the race spot on."

Juvenile Fillies hopeful Frolic's Revenge arrived on Tuesday after a van ride

from Florida and went to the Churchill Downs main track for the first time on

Wednesday morning.

"She galloped for a mile and a half and she was strong. Very strong. She was

very keen," exercise rider Karyn Wiltek said. "She was liking the track."

Frolic's Revenge had no trouble acclimating to new her surroundings and all

of the Breeders' Cup activity.

"This is a very smart filly," trainer Milt Wolfson said. "She takes to new

things like she's been doing them all of her life. She's never seen lights on

the track or been in the cold before, but she's fine with all of it. Everything

is copacetic."