O'Brien looks for 1st Breeders' Cup Classic win

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Aiden O'Brien, one of the top trainers in Europe, will try to win the Breeders' Cup Classic for the first time Saturday with So You Think, a disappointment so far this season.

O'Brien, a four-time Breeders' Cup winner, is 0 for 11 in the $5 million Classic.

``It's one of those races you don't even dream about winning,'' O'Brien said Thursday. ``We've gotten so many good horses beaten in this race. I'd be afraid to even dream about winning. Maybe someday it will happen. If it ever does happen, I think it would be incredible.''

O'Brien hopes for a breakthrough with So You Think, a standout runner in Australia before joining O'Brien's stable at the famed Ballydoyle center in Ireland earlier this year. He's worked on getting the 5-year-old more relaxed, a tactic that backfired.

``When he came to us, he was very revved up,'' O'Brien said. ``We tried to teach him to relax and he started to do that. We started to think he was overly relaxed.''

After losses in his last two races in England and France, O'Brien decided to switch So You Think from the turf, where he ran all previous 19 races, to the main track for the Classic while adding blinkers for the first time since 2009.

Blinkers restrict the field of vision with the goal of keeping a horse more focused.

``When we put the blinkers on him back home, the lads commented that he was more attentive,'' O'Brien said. ``He concentrates a little bit more. Maybe I just over-relaxed him.''

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TWO SCRATCHES: Two horses were scratched Thursday from the Breeders' Cup: Medaglia d'Amour and Gung Ho.

Medaglia d'Amour is out of the $2 million Ladies' Classic on Friday after spiking a temperature.

``She coughed a couple of times, too, so we can't run her like that,'' trainer Ben Cecil said.

Medaglia d'Amour is winless in three races this season.

Gung Ho was withdrawn from the $1 million Juvenile Turf on Saturday due to muscle soreness.

``Trainer Mike Maker didn't like the way he was walking this morning,'' owner Ken Ramsey said.

The defection of Gung Ho opened the door for Tequilla Factor to run in the Juvenile Turf.

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LONG-SHOT NICK: A long price never discourages Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who has engineered some memorable upsets.

Zito will send out 2010 Florida Derby winner Ice Box as a 30-1 outsider in the Classic.

``For that amount of money, we're in the game,'' Zito said. ``If I thought otherwise, I wouldn't have run Birdstone at 37-1 against Smarty Jones; I wouldn't have run Da' Tara at 39-1 against Big Brown.''

Those two horses won the Belmont for him in 2004 and 2008.

``Ice Box was 20-1 when he won the Florida Derby,'' Zito said. ``It's the way I do it. Right or wrong?''

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RAINED OUT: Sea Moon was denied a final workout for the $3 million Turf on Saturday when Churchill Downs officials closed the turf course Thursday.

Workouts on the grass, set for 9:30 a.m., were called off when rain started to fall. Sir Michael Stoute, Sea Moon's trainer, had scheduled a half-mile drill for the 3-year-old who is 3-1-1 in five races in England.

Stoute argued in vain to have the course reopened. After a half hour of jogging about, Sea Moon walked to the barn.

``We came all the way from England and paid a fortune to come,'' Stoute said. ``Here we are just trying to get a nice final work before the race. Ten drops of rain, and they close the track.''