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News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world, compiled by Thoroughbred Racing Communications, Inc. (TRC) (212.371.5911..) 
TRC BREEDERS' CUP NOTEBOOK
Breeders' Cup Distaff (Grade I)
Purse: $1,000,000
Three-Year-Olds and Up (Fillies & Mares)
1 1/8 Miles
Thursday, November 6 Contact: Notes Team (310) 419-4788
Ajina/Escena-Allen Paulson's Distaff entry of Ajina and Escena galloped on
the main track at Hollywood Park Thursday morning with exercise rider
Louise Bray up. The former galloped a mile; the latter 1 1/2 miles. Mike
Smith will ride Ajina Saturday while Jerry Bailey has the call on Escena.
Ajina started the year in less-than-stellar fashion, being thumped in her
first three starts by a combined 38 lengths and then losing by more than
seven lengths to Distaff rival Sharp Cat in the Acorn.
Trainer Bill Mott could not pinpoint the filly's problems.
"It was very frustrating. At one point we were thinking maybe we would just
turn her out and stop on her," Mott said of his thinking after the Acorn.
"About that time, she came around and started running well."
Ajina captured the Mother Goose and Coaching Club of America Oaks in her
next two starts and followed those wins up with second-place finishes in
the Alabama and Beldame.
"She didn't train any differently, but she got the job done in the
afternoon," Mott said.
Escena returns to the dirt after three grass races. She had run at four
tracks on dirt earlier in the year and Mott had indicated Escena was
"finicky" about her tracks.
"I think this track here will suit her," Mott said. "It seemed like she and
Dowty {Classic} and Down the Aisle [who was injured Tuesday prepping for
the Classic] got hold of the track very well."
Clear Mandate-The Spinster winner arrived in good shape mid-day Wednesday
and trainer Rusty Arnold's wife Sarah, the 5yo mare's regular exercise
rider, took her to the main track for a 1 1/2-mile gallop, her first trip
over the Hollywood surface this morning.
"I couldn't see her. I have no idea how she went," quipped Arnold,
commenting on the dense fog.
Arnold plans to school Clear Mandate in the paddock Friday as "close as
possible to the post time for Saturday's race." Saturday will mark Clear
Mandate's second straight appearance in the Distaff. The daughter of Key To
The Mint finished last in a six-horse field to defending winner Jewel
Princess last year, but has placed no worse than third in her last six
starts and crossed the million-dollar mark in earnings with her Spinster
Stakes triumph.
Arnold added that the Distaff will be the last race for Clear Mandate, who
will retired and be bred to A.P. Indy, winner of the 1992 Breeders' Cup
Classic next winter.
Hidden Lake-Should the 4yo filly extend her winning streak to five in the
Distaff, it would not only be a paean to trainer John Kimmel's skill but to
the benefits of alternative therapy.
Kimmel, a licensed veterinarian-turned-trainer, has used everything from
magnetic boots to acupuncture on the filly, who came to him in May with a
variety of problems.
"I'm pretty open-minded about alternative treatments," said Kimmel, who
arrived Wednesday from New York along with Hidden Lake, who jogged one mile
and galloped 1 3/8 miles Thursday morning. "I think there is a connection
between a content mental status and wellness that applies to any living
species."
Explained Kimmel: "The meridian in certain points in the acupuncture map
are related to certain areas of the anatomy. So if you have a horse who has
a non-specific problem-and a lot of those non-specific problems relate to
the hind end-the acupuncture sites that light up and show sensitivity will
give you a focus to maybe focus on a certain joint or area that might be
the nagging problem."
Of all the horses in Kimmel's barn, Hidden Lake gets "by far" more
treatment than anyone else.
"But they [owners Robert Clay and Tracy Farmer] can afford it," he said
with a laugh. "We're right at the brink now. If she wins, there is the
championship of her division."
Kimmel, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School
in 1980, was in practice until 1987, when he took out his trainer's license
in New Jersey.
"I was really hating practicing veterinary medicine," he said. "I asked
myself, 'Can I do this for another 25 years?' Ninety percent of what I was
doing I could train an assistant or a tech to do. There was no challenge at
all."
Of course, there was the small task of informing his parents of his
decision.
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Distaff
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"It was like, 'Mom, Dad, remember that $30,000 you spent to put me through
school?'," said Kimmel with a laugh. "Actually, my parents were very
supportive. My father [owner Caesar Kimmel] was slow at first to give me
horses to train, but now he's a major client for me. With Fabulously Fast,
Flat Fleet Feet, I think we've won eight stakes, the best year we've ever
had."
It might have been an even better one for the elder Kimmel had Hidden Lake
not arrived in his son's barn.
"She came to me four days after she ran in the Humana Distaff-Robert asked
me if I would like her, and I said 'Sure.' In the Shuvee, I ran both Flat
Fleet Feet and Hidden Lake. I told Mike Smith, who'd been riding her, 'You
have to ride Flat Fleet Feet.' Richard Migliore had worked Hidden Lake and
was impressed with her, but we didn't know her all that well.
"Then, she just ran a hole in the wind. The only problem with that was I
had to deal with my father. He asked me, 'You wanna keep training my
horses, don't you?' I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, "Don't run her against
Hidden Lake anymore.'"
In addition to his successes over the past few years, Kimmel is known for
having been the trainer of Thunder Gulch before he was sold and sent to D.
Wayne Lukas.
"We paid $125,000 or $150,000 for him and wound up getting close to a
half-million dollars for him," said Kimmel. "It didn't hurt me, but I'll
never forget the day the horse won the Derby. I was sitting quietly at
home. He was 25-1, and I watched him on the first turn, and I'm thinking,
'He's running well.' Going down the backside, it's 'Damn, he's running
good.' In the stretch, it's 'Goddamn, he's gonna win!'
"At that point, my two sons walked in and said, 'Great. You sold the Derby
winner, Dad,' and just thrashed me."
Jewel Princess- Trainer Wally Dollase rewarded Jewel Princess with her
favorite treat, a peppermint candy, after the defending champion in the
Distaff jogged l l/2 miles on the training track under exercise rider Ramon
Guerra.
"Without a doubt, she is the most intelligent horse I've ever been around,"
said Dollase of the 5yo mare, who will be retired for breeding in Kentucky
after the Distaff. "That's her greatest asset. She doesn't use herself at
all."
Jewel Princess is the only horse returning to defend a Breeders' Cup Crown
this year. Only three have succeeded: Bayakoa in the Distaff, and Miesque
and Lure in the Mile.
"It would be an incredible honor," said Dollase's daughter and assistant,
Aimee. "It's hard enough to win one."
Dollase is optimistic there is enough speed in the race to soften
front-running Sharp Cat and enhance Jewel Princess' stretch kick.
Minister's Melody-Trainer David Hofmans said jockey Gary Stevens was
instrumental in Minister's Melody running in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
"Gary's the one who talked me into running her," Hofmans said. "He thought
if she had broken better and had a little better position [in the Lady's
Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap on Oct. 19], she could have been more
effective in that race. We feel we have an outside shot."
Radu Cool-"She's always been very nervous," trainer John Shirreffs said of
Radu Cool. "She has problems in the starting gate to the extent that we
have put a blanket over her saddle when she goes in so she doesn't feel the
side of the gate. I think Hidden Lake has a similar problem. When we ship
her [Radu Cool], we use a box stall and have a groom in with her, because
she's claustrophobic. We have pads around her stall because she kicks so
much. But she's worth all the trouble. Most good horses have
idiosyncrasies."
Sharp Cat-The Thoroughbred Corporation's Sharp Cat galloped Thursday
morning at Santa Anita Park. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas watched the proceedings
from his pony. Observing the scene from the apron was five-time British
riding champion jockey Willie Carson. Carson is European Manager of The
Thoroughbred Corp. Lukas is pleased with Sharp Cat's number six post
position, "That's an excellent draw. In an eight-horse field there's really
no bad place to be, but I'm very pleased with the six post."
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