ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) -Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard will try to hold back time when he sends out Cloudy's Knight in the $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon on Friday at Santa Anita.
The 9-year-old joined Sheppard's barn this year, making his first start in September after a one-year layoff due to a soft-tissue injury. Horses at that advanced age rarely return in top form.
Cloudy's Knight did miss a beat. The career winner of $2.2 million scored a pair of 1 1/2-mile stakes wins in his comeback races.
``It makes you feel good that a horse can maintain that level for such a long period,'' Sheppard said. ``I have a lot of respect for him.''
Sheppard cites his extensive success with steeplechase runners as a key to restoring Cloudy's Knight to top form. Many top jumpers start racing on the flat, switching to hurdles much later in their careers.
``I have often brought steeplechase horses back from long layoffs to run minimum distances of two miles,'' Sheppard said. ``It's not such a big deal in my eyes as it might be for most people. I might have a harder time bringing one back to run six furlongs. He's just a remarkable animal. I don't train him any different from a horse 3 or 4.''
Cloudy's Knight will be running for the first time on a synthetic track in the 1 3/4-mile Marathon. All but one of his 38 races were on the turf.
``What will happen, who knows?'' Sheppard said. ``It's a lot to ask of a horse of his age. If ever he was going to get a chance before he got any older to run at a top level, this would be the time to do it.''
Cloudy's Knight is 8-1 against nine rivals, including Muhannak, last year's BC Marathon winner.
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PLAYER CHECKS IN: Globe-trotting golf legend Gary Player has the horse racing bug.
``It's a disease with me,'' he said Thursday at Santa Anita, where he visited a number of horses running this weekend in the Breeders' Cup.
It is a malady to which he has happily succumbed.
Player built a 20,000-acre breeding farm in his native South Africa, thoroughly immersing himself in the study of pedigrees and the production of race horses.
``The conclusion you come to after all the studying is that you know a heck of a lot about nothing,'' he said. ``Horses are a lot like golf. They will both humble you. You have to have quality and you have to work hard.''
Player, who is in the midst of a trip that will take him to 12 countries in 31 days, was presented the first Breeders' Cup Sports and Racing Excellence Award, honoring ``an individual who has established a career of excellence in a chosen profession and also maintains a passionate interest as an owner, breeder or participant in the thoroughbred racing industry.''
Player touched on the most sensitive subject of this Breeders' Cup: the absence of superstar 3-year-olds Rachel Alexandra and Sea The Stars.
Owner Jess Jackson would not let Rachel Alexandra, the filly who beat the boys in the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward, compete on Santa Anita's synthetic surface. Sea The Stars, the brilliant turf runner in Europe, was recently retired to stud.
Player made an impassioned plea to owners to embrace, rather than avoid, the championship showdowns.
``I'm very disappointed to see Rachel Alexandra not run,'' he said. ``In my humble opinion, he should have raced her. We need to see Sea The Stars here. It wouldn't have made any difference to his breeding program if he got beat here. We take horses out of training too quickly. He should be here.''
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RESTING THE BIRD: Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird is headed for a well-earned vacation following the $5 million BC Classic on Saturday.
It's been a long, hard journey that started in New Mexico in the winter, shifted to Churchill Downs for the 50-1 shocker in the Derby and will conclude with the richest race in North America.
Trainer Chip Woolley Jr. is hoping for one more peak effort, especially after supplementing Mine That Bird to the Breeders' Cup for $150,000.
``That wasn't a choice made lightly,'' he said.
Mine That Bird, 12-1 on the morning line, will get a 45- to 60-day rest after the race.
``He's probably the most traveled horse in the country and he definitely needs a break,'' Woolley said. ``We'll possibly look at something at Oaklawn Park early in the year and set up a schedule aiming for the good races at a mile-and-a-quarter.''
This will be Mine That Bird's second straight race at Santa Anita, following a sixth-place effort in the Goodwood Stakes last month.
Like his horse, Woolley is ready for the wide-open spaces of New Mexico.
``I love Santa Anita,'' he said. ``I'm not so big on L.A. Santa Anita is a beautiful place to come train every morning. I'm more country. This is a little bit overcrowded for me once you leave the stable gate.''
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EUROPE'S OTHER CLASSIC HOPE: Rip Van Winkle, the 7-2 second choice, is widely regarded as Europe's best chance for a repeat win in the BC Classic.
Twice Over, 20-1 on the morning line, merits consideration for an upset. Trained by Henry Cecil, nine times the champion conditioner in England, Twice Over has won three straight, all on the turf.
His latest effort was a 14-1 upset in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Newmarket. This will be the first time the 4-year-old colt does not run on grass.
``He went through a stage where he lost his confidence,'' Cecil said. ``I think he's got that back. He won the Champion Stakes on ground he really didn't like. He came out of it very well. I think he's got more chance than the betting line tells us.''
Twice Over got an endorsement from John Gosden, another Britain-based trainer, who captured last year's Classic with Raven's Pass at 13-1.
``Rip Van Winkle is the class of the race,'' Gosden said. ``If he's on his best form, he will take some beating. I very much like Henry's horse. He won the Champion Stakes in a great performance. I think at 20-1, he is fantastic value. I really do.''
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FINISH LINES: Allegre was scratched from the $3 million Turf on Saturday. Trainer Brian Koriner said the horse could not train Thursday because of an abscess in his right front foot. The defection of the 50-1 shot reduces the field to seven for the 1 1/2-mile race. ... Earlier in the week, trainer Bob Baffert said he would not run Indian Blessing on Santa Anita's synthetic track. On Thursday, Baffert told the Daily Racing Form that the 4-year-old filly was retired. A two-time divisional champion, Indian Blessing won 10 of 16 starts, including the 2007 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
