Sweeping Statement by Baffert Unlikely

Trainer Bob Baffert’s chances of sweeping Oak Tree’s two signature races for 2-year-olds for the second consecutive year don’t look quite as promising as they did a couple of weeks ago.

Del Mar Futurity winner Worldly Manner would have been heavily favored to win for the fourth time in five starts in the $200,000 Norfolk Stakes on Sunday, but he was recently sold for a reported $5 million to interests who remain anonymous.

In that colt’s absence, Baffert could have two representatives in the Norfolk, but a victory by either would be a surprise. Brilliantly, a twice-beaten maiden, is considered definite and Musical Sweep, who won the Barretts Juvenile last month in Pomona, is a possibility.

“He could still run,” Baffert said. “It depends how I feel [this morning, when entries for Sunday will be taken].”

Daring General, second to Worldly Manner in the Del Mar Futurity, will be favored in the Norfolk, which is run at a mile.

Baffert, who won the Norfolk and its filly counterpart, the $200,000 Oak Leaf Stakes, with Souvenir Copy and Vivid Angel, respectively, in 1997, will start the prohibitive favorite in the Oak Leaf on Saturday.

Excellent Meeting, who like Daring General is owned by John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm, won the Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 29 and will try two turns for the first time in the one-mile Oak Leaf. She will have six opponents--Debutante runner-up Antahkarana, third-place finisher Colorado Song, maiden winner Stylish Talent, Holywood Picture, who broke her maiden in a stakes at Fairplex Park, Hollyhoney and Air Force Woman.

Excellent Meeting, a daughter of General Meeting, has been no worse than third in her five starts and won the Debutante by 5 1/2 lengths under Kent Desormeaux and figures to do better with more distance.

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Skip Away will make the second-last start of his brilliant career Saturday in the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Gold Cup, which has been won the last two years by Skip Away, is the highlight of Belmont’s Breeders’ Cup Preview day, which also includes the $500,000 Turf Classic, the $400,000 Beldame, the $400,000 Champagne and $400,000 Frizette.

With a victory, which would be his 10th in a row, Skip Away would pass $10 million in earnings and surpass Cigar as the all-time leader on the money list. The 5-year-old Skip Trial horse is scheduled to be retired after he runs in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7.

Owned by Carolyn Hine and trained by husband Sonny, Skip Away had his final prep for the Gold Cup on Sunday, working five furlongs in 1:00 2/5.

“The work was just fine and he came out of it beautifully,” Sonny Hine said. “[Jockey] Jerry [Bailey] told me after the work that the horse is ready and everything is perfect.”

His main competition will again come from Gentlemen, who was second to Skip Away in last month’s Woodward Stakes and was third behind him in the Hollywood Gold Cup in late June.

Sharp Cat, who has had little trouble winning her three races this year for trainer Wally Dollase, will be a short price to capture the Beldame, her final prep before the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

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Master Carson, who has turned into a profitable claim for trainer Craig Lewis and owner Rubin Brown, won for the third time in his last four starts, scoring a 9-1 surprise in the $71,000 In Excess Wednesday at Santa Anita.

Claimed for $62,500 by Lewis and Brown on April 1, the 3-year-old son of Slewpy didn’t win in his first four starts for his current connections, but has blossomed on the turf.

He won two of three on the grass at Del Mar, then made a successful debut on the Santa Anita turf with a 1 1/2-length win over another longshot, Mantles Star, to win in 1:35 1/5.

Alex Solis rode the winner, who pushed his career earnings past $135,000. Expressionist, the 4-5 favorite on the strength of his second-place finish behind Ladies Din in the Del Mar Derby on Sept. 7, was a no-excuse fourth in the field of six.

Horse Racing Notes

Churchill Downs is planning to offer a $5-million guaranteed pick six pool on Breeders’ Cup Day, Nov. 7. . . . A $2-million guaranteed Pick Six will be on Saturday’s Oak Tree card. Entries were taken Wednesday morning and the average field size for the Pick Six races is more than 10. . . . Bob Baffert will be the first trainer to sweep the Oak Leaf and Norfolk in consecutive years if he wins both races this weekend. . . . Silver Charm, who will make his next start against Free House in the $500,000 Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap on Oct. 17, worked half a mile in 46 1/5 Tuesday morning. . . . Torole, an 8-year-old gelded son of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, ended a 32-race losing streak when he beat Gingerboy by a nose in Wednesday’s fifth race, a $10,000 claimer at a mile. It was the first victory for Torole since Feb. 22, 1995. . . . Artax, who hasn’t started since he was well-beaten in the Kentucky Derby, had his first workout Wednesday as he begins his comeback for trainer Randy Bradshaw. The son of Marquetry went three furlongs in 37 1/5, and the target for his comeback race is the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26, the opening-day feature for Santa Anita’s winter-spring meeting.