nov 2 - fleet ready to rumble

Asi Siempre: - Asi Siempre galloped 1 ½ m Thursday at Keeneland, and trainer Patrick Biancone said she would stay there one more night.

Biancone originally planned to ship her and his other Breeders Cup starters - Mile favorite Gorella, Mauralakana, and Her Majesty - Thursday afternoon. Now they are scheduled to ship Friday morning.

Baghdaria: - Trainer Tom Amoss, on his way to his second job as a TVG racing analyst on the "Works" program, reported that his 3yo filly was "fine" following a 1 ½ m gallop and schooling session in the paddock.

Balletto: - Ten minutes after her stablemate Bernardini returned from his trip to the track Thursday morning, the 4yo Darley homebred filly galloped 1 ¼ m.

Balletto shipped to Churchill Downs from New York Wednesday. She finished second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2004 at Lone Star Park. She returned to the races this year and has four seconds and a third in six starts.

Bushfire: - Ron and Ricki Rashinski's 3yo filly Bushfire did something different Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. She galloped 1 ½ m on the turf course.

Trainer Eddie Kenneally said, "I'd rather not have her gallop over the main track when it's in that condition (wet)."

Rain throughout Wednesday left the track sloppy.

"I had to do a little something with her, but I didn't want to risk anything in that slop," said Kenneally. "It was her first time on turf."

"Maybe we could run in the Mile next year?" pondered Ron Rashinski.

Bushfire is the Rashinskis' first Breeders' Cup starter.

"You just want to pinch yourself," said Ricki of the experience thus far. "So many people would love to be in our shoes."

Fleet Indian: - Undefeated in six starts this year and riding an eight-race winning streak, the New York-bred Indian Charlie mare defeated Balletto by a head in the Beldame at Belmont Park last month. But the race may prove to be springboard to bigger things.

"What I liked about Fleet Indian's Beldame is that she proved that she doesn't have to be on the lead," said trainer Todd Pletcher.

Happy Ticket: - Stewart Madison's 5yo mare Happy Ticket galloped 1 ½ m at Churchill Downs on Thursday for trainer Andrew Leggio Jr. Happy Ticket drew the 13 post in the full field of 14.

"It's not the best post, but we'll deal with the hand we've been dealt, that's all we can do," said Leggio. "I do prefer this over the one (post).

"She's training really well. And Mr. Madison told me as long as she's healthy, she'll run as a 6-year-old. He's into the racing, loves watching her run."

Happy Ticket has a record of 19-12-5 going into the Distaff. She won her first nine races, all but one in her native Louisiana. Madison, a native of Shreveport, La. is a music-recording executive who now lives in Jackson, Miss.

Healthy Addiction: - The California-based mare has won 10 races and more than $1-million, but she'll shoot for her biggest payday ever.

Trainer John Sadler, who had shipped in from his Southern California base Wednesday - a day after his charge had come east - oversaw 1 ½ m gallop on the main track at Churchill Downs Thursday morning with exercise rider Jose Alferez at the controls. It was shortly after 6 a.m. and it was dark when the leg stretching took place.

"She's doing fine; she shipped better than me," Sadler said. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up early and came out here. But I'm not running Saturday; she is. And she's fine and that's all that matters."

Victor Espinoza has the call of the 5yo daughter of Boston Harbor.

Hollywood Story: - Trainer John Shirreffs was in charge at Barn 41 Thursday morning overseeing exercise for his two Breeders' Cup charges - 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo (Classic) and Hollywood Story (Distaff).

Hollywood Story went to the track at about 9 a.m. with exercise rider Michelle Jensen at the controls and did a 1 ½ m gallop of the main track.

Shirreffs was happy with it. The 5yo daughter of Wild Rush will be making her 27th start in the 9f race and will have California-based David Flores on board. She is one of four millionaires in the race with a bankroll that reads $1,171,105.

Lemons Forever: - Trainer Dallas Stewart needed only one word to describe the Distaff field: tough.

"I wouldn't want to see it much tougher," he said. "It's tough enough."

Lemons Forever scored the biggest victory of her career at Churchill Downs when she won the Kentucky Oaks on May 5. The 3yo filly is winless in four starts since the Oaks, but Stewart said she has had some bad racing luck.

In her last start, the Spinster on Oct. 8 at Keeneland, Stewart said the slow early fractions of 50 2/5 and 1:16 1/5 compromised her late-running style. Stewart is confident the filly will find a favorable pace scenario in the Distaff.

"It will happen. It will happen," Stewart said, repeating the words for emphasis. "There will be plenty enough speed in there, which will be a big plus. The last time there was nothing. On the Polytrack, I think the riders were probably a little worried about setting the pace and not being able to finish. In the Breeders' Cup there never is a lack of pace on every race just about."

Pine Island: - After shipping in from New York Wednesday, the Phipps Family filly went to the track Thursday morning and jogged a mile. She was scheduled to be schooled in the paddock during the afternoon.

Pine Island did not race as a 2yo. She made her debut with a win in a maiden race in March and followed up with an allowance victory in June. After seconds in the Mother Goose and Coaching Club American Oaks, she surged to the front of the 3yo filly division with victories in the Alabama and the Gazelle.

Last year, Pleasant Home gave trainer Shug McGaughey his ninth Breeders' Cup victory with a victory in the Distaff at odds of 30-1. With a 4-2-0 record, Pine Island will be among the favorites. She is the 5-1 second choice on the morning line.

McGaughey's longtime assistant, Buzz Tenney, said Thursday that he expects Pine Island will stalk the pace.

"There is always speed in this race. I think she will be mid-pack," Tenney said. "I don't think she will be all that close Saturday, but she won't be as far back as Pleasant Home was last year."

Tenney said the filly did not have problems with the shipping or adjusting to a new surroundings.

"She's got a great mind," he said. "Nothing, as yet, has ever upset her. She's a nice filly."

McGaughey was scheduled to arrive from New York Thursday afternoon.

Pool Land: - Pool Land jogged at Churchill Downs Thursday morning. She has won three of her last four starts, and is one of three entered in the Distaff for trainer Todd Pletcher.

"She has the most natural speed of the group, and I would think would be the most forwardly placed," Pletcher said. "Fleet Indian and Spun Sugar will also be close, but what I don't want to see is them going head-and-head down he backstretch."

Round Pond: - Trainer Michael Matz said Thursday that switching from regular shoes that are nailed to the hoof to glue-on shoes have apparently solved the Fox Hill Farms filly's nagging foot problems.

"She's very thin-soled and her sole was too close to the surface and needed to be raised a little bit," Matz said. "The glue-on shoes make the difference."

While being trained by John Servis during the first eight races of her career, Round Pond complied a record of 6-1-1, that included four stakes victory. She was transferred to Matz's care during the spring. In her first start for the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer of Barbaro in the Aug. 27 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park she was second, beaten a head over a sloppy track.

Matz said the foot problems returned after the Molly Pitcher and caused her to miss a work prior to a third-place finish in the Beldame. He said he is very happy with her as she approaches the Distaff.

"Now it's up to her and Edgar Prado," he said. "I've got one more day of galloping and if I don't mess that up then it's up to them and if she's good enough. We'll find out on Saturday."

Sharp Lisa: - This 4yo daughter of Dixieland Band galloped 1 ½ m at Churchill Downs Thursday morning as she continued to prepare for her 17th straight graded race in Saturday's Distaff.

Regular exercise rider Antonio Romero was in the saddle for the exercise.

Spun Sugar: - An eighth-place finish in Keeneland's Spinster has been excused by trainer Todd Pletcher. "That was her first start on Polytrack, and if we knew then what we know now, we would have ridden her differently," Pletcher said.

"We would have let her settle, which it seems she wants to do."

She jogged at Churchill Downs Thursday, and will school in the paddock later Thursday.