BC Runners Noted, Buttercream Babe Return at Gulfstream

Two horses outrun on the Breeders’ Cup Future Stars Friday program—Repole Stable’s Noted  and Three Diamonds Farm’s Buttercream Babe —return to action in ungraded stakes company Dec. 9 at Gulfstream Park. Noted heads the $100,000 Pulpit Stakes for 2-year-olds at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf, and Buttercream Babe competes earlier in the day in the $100,000 Wait a While Stakes, run over the same conditions for juvenile fillies. 

Though neither defeated a horse when racing at Santa Anita Park Nov. 3—Noted was last of nine in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and Buttercream Babe trailed in the 14-horse Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T)—both figure to be major players with class drops and based on their prior form.

Noted, a gray/roan son of Cairo Prince   trained by Hall of Famer trainer Todd Pletcher, returns to turf, a surface on which he ran a close second, beaten a nose, in the Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland Oct. 8. He is 2-2-0 in five starts.

A 27/1 upset to end the day at Keeneland! #4 Can Group gets up in a tight photo to win the G2 Castle & Key Bourbon S. under Francisco Arrieta for trainer Mark Casse! 🏆🍀

🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/GQTcpC2J2q

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) October 8, 2023

“That was a tough beat,” Pletcher said. “He just couldn’t get his nose on the wire, but he ran great, so we’re looking for him to bounce back with another good effort.”

Pletcher said the Breeders’ Cup on dirt “didn’t work out.”

“Now we’ll head back to the grass and see what that does,” he added. “He’s run very well on the turf, and I’d have to say at this stage he’s a little better on the grass, but we’ll not rule out giving him another try on the dirt at some point.”

Pletcher won last year’s Pulpit with Ari Gold  and in 2016 with Tapwrit  .

A pair of other Bourbon starters—seventh-place Palm Tree  and eighth-place Double Your Money  are also in the 11-horse Pulpit Stakes, which goes as the last of 11 races.

Poor Trip Costly for ‘Babe in Breeders’ Cup

Buttercream Babe, a Mike Maker-conditioned Twirling Candy   filly, hit the board in her first three starts, including when second in the Surfer Girl Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita Park Oct. 8.

Speaking of the Breeders’ Cup, when Buttercream Babe broke from the rail, assistant trainer Nolan Ramsey said: “It was a tough draw and not an ideal break. She got pretty much crushed going into the first turn. I’d liked to have seen her pick up her feet a little bit more coming down the lane, but when all is said and done, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference.”

Buttercream Babe has since been training with Maker’s division in Kentucky. 

She faces nine rivals in the Wait a While, the sixth race. Great Venezuela  and Ozara  are two other favorites.

Qatar Racing’s Milliat  makes her United States debut for trainer Jack Sisterson after the Irish-bred daughter of Kodiac  won her debut in a seven-furlong maiden race on a synthetic track at Dundalk in Ireland Sept. 29.