NOTES : Early Odds on Meafara Surprise Gary Jones

With the emphasis on Gary Jones’ Best Pal, the second choice in the Classic, there’s a tendency to overlook the trainer’s three other horses Saturday on Breeders’ Cup day.

Strangely, the only morning-line favorite from Jones’ barn is Meafara, a horse he has never saddled for a race. Meafara, a 4-year-old filly, is the lukewarm 7-2 favorite in the Sprint, the race that she lost by a neck to Thirty Slews last year at Gulfstream Park in Florida.

“She’s a good filly, but I was flabbergasted when I heard that she was favored,” Jones said.

Frank Muench, a suburban Chicago businessman, called Jones at Del Mar this summer, asking if he would take Meafara.

“I’d never never met the owner, but I knew about the filly and he didn’t have to ask me twice,” Jones said.

Muench reportedly had a disagreement with Meafara’s previous trainer, Leslie Ahrens.

Since finishing second in the Sprint last year, Meafara has won three races at Arlington International. In her last start, she was 4-5 and finished third, beaten by 13 lengths, in the Arlington Matron Handicap.

In Saturday’s Sprint, Gary Stevens will ride Meafara for the first time.

“She’s got great speed and rates herself,” Stevens said. “If she runs like last year, she’s got to be competitive.”

Besides Best Pal and Meafara, Jones’ other Breeders’ Cup starters are Tricky Code in the Juvenile Fillies and Winning Pact in the Juvenile.

Horse Racing Notes

Diazo will run with medication in the Classic after bleeding from the lungs while finishing last in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. . . . Strategic Maneuver, undefeated and considered the best 2-year-old filly in New York until she finished far back in the Frizette at Belmont on Oct. 16, came out of the race with a virus, forcing her to miss the Breeders’ Cup. She is expected to run in the Demoiselle at Aqueduct on Nov. 27.

Cot Campbell, who heads the syndicate that races Wallenda, said that his colt will run in the Classic in conventual shoes. Wearing the controversial turn-down shoes that look like spikes, Wallenda ended a 10-race losing streak by winning the Pennsylvania Derby and the Super Derby. Because of a safety decision by the Oak Tree racing office at Santa Anita, turn-downs will not be permitted in the Breeders’ Cup. “We don’t like the idea of changing shoes after we won with them, but other horsemen here have told me that traction is no problem on the Santa Anita track,” Campbell said.

Heavenly Prize worked :37 2/5 for three furlongs in preparing for the Juvenile Fillies. . . . Kotashaan worked a half-mile on grass in :50 2/5, preparing for the Turf, and Lure, a Mile entrant, went in 49 flat. . . . Miner’s Mark’s half-mile dirt workout was :46 2/5.