• Quality Road likely for Breeders’ Cup Classic
• Ice Age predicted for New York
• Dahlgren Chapel eyes Oct. 24 Sleepy Hollow
• Half-siblings Silvercup Baby, Slevin on for New York Showcase Day
• Bribon to Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile; Grand Couturier possible for Red Smith
• Kimmel gears up for New York Showcase Day
• Donk also mulling Showcase options

Trainer Todd Pletcher said that while he was also considering the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for last Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup runner-up Quality Road, his next start would probably be in the $5 million Classic, both to be run on Saturday, November 7 at Santa Anita.

“I’ll discuss it further with his owner, Mr. [Edward] Evans, but the Classic is the most likely scenario,” Pletcher said.

He added that Evans’ 5-year-old Nite Light, second by a nose in the Grade 2, 1½-mile Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap here on June 5, would run in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon on November 6.

Regarding his juveniles, Pletcher said that the races this weekend – including the Grade 1, $400,000 Champagne, in which he has entered Super Saver – would clarify the picture for the Breeders’ Cup.

“A lot depends on the races this weekend,” he said. “We’re hoping the 2-year-olds step up.”

Belmont Stakes, Shadwell Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Summer Bird is scheduled to depart for the Breeders’ Cup early Monday, but plans call for the colt to return for an extended stay at Belmont Park in April along with a number of his stablemates, said trainer Tim Ice.

“After the meet at Oaklawn Park, the plan is to come to New York,” said Ice, who previously has been based at Louisiana Downs. “I’d like to pick up some new owners; right now, I’m thinking of bringing 20-25 horses and trying to build from there.”

Overall this year, Ice is 28-28-23 from 147 starts, with earnings of more than $2.6 million. In New York, Ice is 4-for-4, with Independence War having won a claiming race here on October 3 to go along with Summer Bird’s victories.

“Overall, New York is a great place to race during the summer and also to train,” said Ice, 34. “Dr. [Kalarikkal] Jayaraman and I were talking yesterday about Belmont Park. The main track has a great surface, and the horses have come off it in great shape. ”

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin reported that James J. Barry’s Dahlgren Chapel is under consideration for the $100,000 Sleepy Hollow for 2-year-olds here on New York Showcase Day, Saturday, October 24.

The New York-bred son of Chapel Royal, 1-2-1 in four starts, most recently finished second to the Todd Pletcher-trained Ibboyee in the New York Breeders’ Futurity at Finger Lakes on October 3. Prior to that he was third in the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park and second in the Aspirant at Finger Lakes following a maiden win here on June 25

“He came out of the Finger Lakes race well,” said McLaughlin. “It might be a little quick for him, but we are looking at it.”

Trainer Carl Domino is pointing Eric Brophy’s duo of Silvercup Baby and Slevin to New York Showcase Day, with Silvercup Baby heading to the $125,000 Iroquois for fillies and mares going seven furlongs and her half-brother Slevin being aimed to the $250,000 Empire Classic at nine furlongs.

Silvercup Baby, a 5-year-old daughter of American Chance out of Silverbobbin, most recently won the Union Avenue at Saratoga Race Course on August 24 under new rider Javier Castellano.

“He fits her well,” said Domino of Castellano, who will also be aboard Slevin. “He can get her to relax a little bit.”

Slevin, a 3-year-old gelded son of Belong to Me, won an allowance here on September 18 following three straight second-place finishes in the Albany, New York Derby and Mike Lee Stakes. Overall, he is 3-3-3 from 12 starts.

“He’s been kind of unlucky, but he tries,” said Domino of Slevin. “He’s just three, so he’s still a kid.”

Marc Keller’s Bribon, uncharacteristically up on the pace when fifth September 20 to the top filly Ventura in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, will return to the dirt and contest the Grade 1, $300,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile on November 28 at Aqueduct.

The 2009 Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap winner had won four of his prior five starts heading into the Woodbine race, and trainer Robert Ribaudo said the Cigar Mile is a perfect target since his late-running 6-year-old gelding is not Breeders’ Cup-nominated.

“I had no pace in Canada,” Ribaudo said. “He was laying second coming out of the gate. I had three speed horses that didn’t go, local horses, and they took back. But that filly, Ventura, was fantastic. On our best day, we don’t beat her.

“[Bribon’s] numbers show he can run on turf or dirt,” Ribaudo added, “but it’s not a large world out there because he’s limited in distance. The only thing that comes up for him is the Cigar Mile.”

Ribaudo said Keller’s turf star Grand Couturier, third October 3 in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational, may run in the Grade 2, $150,000 Red Smith Handicap, a 1 3/8th-mile turf race November 7 at Aqueduct.

After contesting the Breeders’ Cup Turf the past two years, Grand Couturier will not be sent to Santa Anita this year after he finished 11th in the race at the track last year.

Ribaudo is also mulling a far more ambitious option, a run in the Grade 1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse at 12 furlongs on November 29.

“This year, we’re kind of toying with the idea,” the trainer said. “We investigated the last 10 years what the condition of the turf course was, and it was firm nine of the past 10 years. We need a little give in the course.

“You’d love to win a race like that. If you think you could finish top three or four, you have to give it more consideration. [Grand Couturier] is just back training from last Saturday, and he’s none the worse for wear. He’ll tell me if he gets aggressive in the morning.”

After six races away from her favorite track, Live Oak Plantation’s 4-year-old turf runner Remarkable Remy will return to Belmont Park on October 24 to run in the $150,000 Ticonderoga, a 1 1/8-mile grass race for New York-bred fillies and mares.

Remarkable Remy has not won since taking the $100,000 Pebbles last October at Belmont. She comes off a seventh-place finish in the Voodoo Dancer Stakes at Saratoga, her first start back in the barn of trainer John Kimmel after three races in Canada.

“She ran decent,” Kimmel said. “Hopefully, it set her up for something like the Ticonderoga. They were running her in some pretty tough races in Woodbine.”

Kimmel has two other runners set for October 24, “New York Showcase Day” at Belmont Park.

Chester Broman Sr.’s rising 2-year-old filly Mineralogist, who easily won the $100,000 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes on September 27 at Belmont, will run in the one-mile, $100,000 Maid of the Mist.

Thomas N. Mina’s Uncle T Seven, recently transferred to Kimmel from the barn of John Morrison, will run in the $150,000 Mohawk, a 1 1/8th-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up. The son of Freud finished sixth in the Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga in his most recent start and won the $150,000 New York Stallion Cab Calloway Stakes by 2¾ lengths at the Spa two starts back.

Trainer David Donk reported that Strait Gate Stable’s Sapphire Sky, winner of the $70,000 Biogio’s Rose Stakes in the slop at Saratoga on August 21, would be pointed toward the Iroquois, seven furlongs for New York-bred fillies and mares 3 years old and up on Showcase day, October 24.

“She loves it wet, so we’ll hope for that,” Donk said.

He added that he would also nominate several fillies for the nine furlong Ticonderoga the same day.

William Bloom’s Shrimp Dancer, who broke his maiden in a turf contest at Belmont on September 17 but missed a scheduled start in last weekend’s Grade 3, $150,000-added Pilgrim Stakes when the race came off the turf, will likely make his next start in the Vision, a 1 1/16-mile overnight stakes carded for Sunday, October 25, Donk said.