WOODWARD STAKES Top older horse Mineshaft will face just 4 challengers

The 4-year-old could move into contention for Horse of the Year honors.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Neil Howard knew exactly what he was getting when Mineshaft was shipped to his Churchill Downs barn from Europe last October.
"He was a baked cake," the trainer said Thursday outside his barn at Belmont Park. "All I had to do was just go over to the track with him. It's all worked out beautifully."
Now the top older horse in the country, Mineshaft brings his impressive resume into Saturday's Woodward Stakes, where the 4-year-old son of A.P. Indy will face just four challengers in a race that could move him into strong contention for Horse of the Year honors.
"I'd say he's in the mix," Howard said, adding that Mineshaft is set to run next in the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 27 and then the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.
A winner in seven of his last nine starts, Mineshaft is the featured attraction as Belmont Park opens its fall season this weekend, topped by the 11/8-mile Woodward and two other Grade 1 races, the Gazelle for 3-year-old fillies and the Man o'War for 3-year-olds and up.
Mineshaft won just one of his first seven races in Europe under John Gosden, who like Howard trains for William S. Farish, owner of Lane's End Farm in Kentucky and co-owner of the horse.
The bay colt won three straight, one at Churchill Downs and two at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, then finished second to Balto Star in the Whirlaway on Feb. 9. Three more wins followed, including the Pimlico Special. He lost by a head to Perfect Drift in the Stephen Foster at Churchill on June 14, but rebounded with a win over 2002 BC Classic winner Volponi in the Suburban Handicap at Saratoga on July 5.
Mineshaft might not be as famous as Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide and Belmont winner Empire Maker, but fall is the time handicap horses make a name for themselves.
Challengers
Taking on Mineshaft will be Puzzlement, winner of the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap; Hold That Tiger, third in last year's BC Juvenile but winless in three European starts this year; Northern Rock and Thompson Rouge, allowance winners in their last races.
The road to the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships opens in other divisions, too. Top 3-year-old filly will be on the line in the 11/8-mile Gazelle, which features a rematch between Bobby Frankel's Spoken Fur and Barclay Tagg's Island Fashion. Also in the eight-horse field is Lady Tak.
The Man o'War drew a field of nine, including Balto Star, Denon, Evening Attire and Whitmore's Conn.