Barrister Tom Gives Michael Ewing Shot at Possible Breeders' Cup Start

After Barrister Tom won the More Than Ready Juvenile at Kentucky Downs going a mile on Labor Day, owner and trainer Michael Ewing expressed the hope that this was the horse that could take her to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

The son of Artie Schiller could accomplish that Sunday in the 30^th running of the $200,000 Bourbon (G2), a “Win and You’re In” race going 1 1/16 miles for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) to be run here at a mile Nov. 6.

The victory at Kentucky Downs was the biggest for Ewing, who went out on her own in 2010.

“I was just going to let the horse tell me,” Ewing said of a run in the Bourbon. “He was just so full of himself that I probably decided after his last work.”

That work was a 5-furlong move in 1:01 on the dirt last Saturday at The Thoroughbred Center, where Ewing is stabled. Barrister Tom will come to Keeneland Sunday morning.

Barrister Tom is two-for-two on the grass with his first career victory coming at a mile at Arlington. He was ninth in his debut going 5½ furlongs on the dirt at Indiana Grand in July.

“I generally sprint no matter what first time as I think that first race is quite a physical and mental jolt if you will,” Ewing said. “And he was ready. It has been a weird year where everything was cockeyed and the race was just a spot that was available. I didn’t think he was a first-out winner type, so it was educational.”