In one of his final tuneups for the $2 million Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, WinStar Farm’s Mullikin breezed Friday at Keeneland immediately following the first track renovation at 7:30 a.m. With Antonio Mata in the saddle and working in company with WinStar Farm and BBN Racing’s Grade 2 winner World Record under Ares Campos, Mullikin worked 5 furlongs in 1:00.40.  

(Click here for a video of the work.)

“Exactly what we were looking for,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “We just want to keep him fresh up to the race. Today was an easy five-eighths from the half (mile pole) and a good gallop out. The rider never moved, and he was traveling very well. (Mullikin) will work again either Friday or Saturday — just an easy half mile by himself.”

Mullikin and World Record are accustomed to being a team.

“Week by week, we saw that they were a good match,” Brisset said. “It’s been fun, and they have pretty much partnered up for works for the last two years.” 

After the second harrowing at 9 a.m., Breffni Farm’s Royal Spa worked a half-mile in :48.20 in company with Group 3 winner Queen Azteca. Winner of the Locust Grove (G2) at Churchill Downs on Sept. 13, Royal Spa had been targeting the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) on Nov. 1 at Del Mar but will bypass the race in favor of another Churchill start.

“We were playing with the idea of the Distaff,” Brisset said. “That is why she went to Del Mar (where she finished fourth in the Clement L. Hirsch-G1 Presented by Oak Tree Racing Association on Aug. 2). It is a long trip to go out there, and she doesn’t owe us anything. And we know she likes Churchill (where she has raced eight times with four wins and two seconds).”

Royal Spa is now being pointing toward Churchill’s Chilukki (G3) Presented by Resolute Racing on Nov. 15 or the Falls City (G3) on Nov. 27. Also winner of the Shawnee (G3) in May and second in the Fleur de Lis (G2) in June at Churchill, Royal Spa was runner-up in last year’s Chilukki.