, a 3-year-old graded stakes winner, delightfully fooled jockey during a five-furlong turf workout at Santa Anita on Monday.
Just five days before the Breeders' Cup Mile here, Courageous Cat worked in 1:01, much quicker of a time than Gomez expected, considering the colt was working well off the inside rail, around temporary cones.
"That's a pretty good work around the dogs," Gomez said.
Trainer said he thought that Courageous Cat did as much sightseeing in his first work at Santa Anita as running.
"He looked a little lost by himself in his first time around there, kind of looking around," he said.
Owned by breeders Marty and Pam Wygod, Courageous Cat will be a longshot in the Mile. Courageous Cat won the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 14 and was a closing third in the Grade 1 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park on Oct. 10.
Both of those races were over 1 1/8 miles on turf for 3-year-olds; the Mile will be Courageous Cat's first start against older horses.
The Mile is expected to have 11 starters, and is led by defending champion , from France. The other probable starters are , , , , , , , , and .
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