Despite its fascinating festival of upsets, this year’s Breeders’ Cup confirmed the “star” status of a couple horses and potential stardom for a few others.
Wise Dan beat a field of top international talent to solidify his position near the top of the world rankings. He is rated on all surfaces and his standing will improve as a result of his victory in the $2 million Mile. And let’s not forget about Animal Kingdom, who finished a remarkable second in the Mile in his first start since February and is being pointed to the world stage.
Royal Delta showed she is royalty, indeed, with a front-running win in the $2 million Ladies’ Classic. She, too, may be headed toward another swing at the Dubai World Cup.
Shanghai Bobby, extending his undefeated record to five wins with a hard-fought victory in the $2 million Juvenile became the early favorite for next year’s Kentucky Derby. And George Vancouver’s victory in the $1 million Juvenile Turf sets him up as a potential contender for next year’s Epsom Derby in England.
Zagora in the Filly & Mare Turf and Groupie Doll in the Filly & Mare Sprint also were impressive in victory.
Royal Delta, Groupie Doll, Shanghai Bobby and Wise Dan, by the way, were the only favorites who won on the 15-race championship card.
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Royal Delta
Even though she won the Ladies’ Classic for the second straight year — only Bayakoa had done that before — Royal Delta has a little unfinished business. And owner Benjamin Leon said he hopes to take care of that next March in Dubai, where she was a non-factor in the 2012 World Cup.
“Our intention is to take her to Dubai to give her one more chance … to become the world champ,” Leon said. Trainer Bill Mott added he will give Royal Delta some down time, then likely one prep race in Florida before traveling to the Mideast.
“She has to remain healthy and we’ve got big plans for her,” Mott said. “If ever there was a filly that you could shoot for the moon with, I could say it would probably be one like her.”
Royal Delta went right to the front in the Ladies’ Classic and won by 1 1/2 lengths as jockey Mike Smith moved ahead of Jerry Bailey on the all-time Breeders’ Cup jockey wins list.
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Wise Dan
While everyone on the international racing scene has been focused this year on Frankel and Black Caviar, Wise Dan has been sneaking up along the rail toward a top spot on the world rankings. After Saturday’s victory in the Mile, he’s even closer to the top of those standings.
Wise Dan not only beat the best Europe could throw at him — Excelebration and Moonlight Cloud are top-shelf milers — but he did it in record time over a Santa Anita course that has hosted some mighty good ones from all over the world. And his mere presence in the race scared off some potential competition.
The question is, will Wise Dan now move out from his U.S. base to challenge on the international front? Owner Morton Fink and trainer Charlie Lopresti were noncommittal after the dramatic win on Saturday.
“It’s definitely an option,” Lopresti said. “But we have to talk about it. “I think it knocks them out when you go to Dubai. Maybe we want to go on and do what we did last year and stay here in the United States and go to Saratoga and Woodbine. But we’ll see.”
Neither of them, wisely, wanted to compare Wise Dan with the now-retired Frankel. Frankel, after all, beat Excelebration five times and usually by much greater margins than Wise Dan accomplished Saturday.
“I’m not going to think about what he would do against Frankel,” Fink said. “He’s the best horse in the world.”
Animal Kingdom, meanwhile, put in an almost unbelievable run in the stretch to take second in the Mile and could have won but for traffic issues in the stretch. “I’m thrilled with the way he ran,” said trainer Graham Motion, who is hoping to get Animal Kingdom to the Dubai World Cup. “He’s a special horse.”
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Shanghai Bobby
Last year, Union Rags came into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile undefeated, failed in a stretch duel with the gray colt Hansen and saw his career go south from there. This time around, Shanghai Bobby entered the race undefeated, won an equally tight stretch battle over the gray colt He’s Had Enough and now is the object of great expectations.
“It’s great to have an undefeated 2-year-old and go all the way from April until November,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “It’s pretty hard to do. It’s a real feather in his cap.”
But Jack Wolf, part of the owning partnership, noted victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, unaccountably, is worth only 10 points in Churchill Downs’s new system for qualifying for the Kentucky Derby — a drop in the bucket compared to the points available in next year’s Derby preps.
“The horse will either be there or not be there and we ought to celebrate what he’s doing right now,” Wolf said.
If he is going to move forward, Pletcher has some instructing to do. Winning jockey Rosie Napravnik said when Shanghai Bobby opened a lead at the top of the stretch, he got “a little bit lost. I was hoping those horses would come up to him sooner than later. They did, and he kicked on again.”
And speaking of Derby contenders, there’s George Vancouver, winner of the $1 million Juvenile Turf by 1 length over Noble Tune and a candidate for next year’s renewal of the original Derby at Epsom Downs in England.
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Elsewhere on two beautiful days at Santa Anita:
— The $5 million Classic always going to be overshadowed this year by the Ladies’ Classic and the Turf and its only real chance for import was Game On Dude’s bid for Horse of the Year honors. When “The Dude” didn’t break well and faded in the stretch, that left Fort Larned to rake in the big bucks as a dramatic, 1/2-length winner over Mucho Macho Man. The win capped an excellent year for Fort Larned and could put him into contention with Game On Dude for a divisional Eclipse Award. Flat Out finished a well-beaten third in the Classic and Alpha was dead last of 12.
— Trinniberg came from last of 14 in the stretch run to win the $2 million Xpressbet Sprint by a head over another closer, The Lumber Guy, with Smiling Tiger third. Defending champion Amazombie was never in the mix and finished eighth. This race had to sting for trainer Bob Baffert almost as much as Game On Dude’s flop in the Classic as he saw Fast Bullet get home get home sixth, Coil seventh and Capital Account 12th.
— Little Mike won the Arlington Million, ran terribly in New York and came right back to win Saturday’s $3 million Turf with a run from just off the pace. Point of Entry saw his long undefeated streak broken after having bad traffic issues and falling only 1/2 length short with a late kick. Defending champion St Nicholas Abbey also ran well late but settled for third. Trainer Dale Romans said he considered shortening up Little Mike to run in the Mile but ultimately had faith in his original intention to keep him at a distance of ground.
— Mizdirection came from far back to win the $1 million Turf Sprint down the hillside course. Jockey Mike Smith elected to swing around the field approaching the crossover to the main turf track and had most of the field to catch. Running up the outside, Mizdirection got the job done. Unbridled’s Note finished second and Reneesgotzip was third.
— Tapizar pressed the pace in the $1 million Dirt Mile, surged to the lead in the stretch and held off Rail Trip to win by 2 1/4 lengths with Delegation third. The favorite, Emcee, faded from the lead to get home sixth. Shackleford bobbled at the break and, unable to set the pace, folded up and finished seventh.
— Groupie Doll also emerged as a star, albeit in a lesser-noted division, by sweeping to victory in the $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint. With Rajiv Maragh along for the ride, the Bowman’s Band filly won by 4 1/2 lengths over worthy rival Dust and Diamonds with Switch getting home third.
— Zagora collared Marketing Mix in the late going to win the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf by 3/4 length with European invader The Fugue running well late to take third as the mutual favorite. Zagora has been a force on the U.S. scene since her arrival in trainer Chad Brown’s barn.
— Beholder will be an early favorite for the Kentucky Oaks after her 1-length victory over Executiveprivilege in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies. Dreaming of Julia finished 4 1/4 lengths farther back in third. Beholder, a Henny Hughes filly, is trained by Richard Mandella. Baffert got as close to the winner’s circle as he would get all weekend with Executiveprivilege. Beholder’s win avenged two earlier defeats at the hands of Executiveprivilege and improved her record to three wins from five starts.
— Flotilla was a rare bright spot for the Europeans’ weekend, winning the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf with a late run under Christophe Lemaire by 1 1/4 lengths over Watsdachances. Summer of Fun finished third. Flotilla, trained by Mikel Delzangles, will have a bright future next summer either in France or in the English 1,000 Guineas.
— Calidoscopio, in his first run outside South America, ran by most of the field in the final furlongs to win the $500,000 Marathon by 4 1/4 lengths over Grassy. Atigun finished third. Calidoscopio, dispatched at 17-1 odds, is a 9-year-old Argentine-bred. A sentimental favorite in this race, venerable international campaigner Fame and Glory, clearly didn’t relish his first taste of dirt racing and quit running about a mile into the 1 3/4-miles event. Jockey Jamie Spencer gave him a few smacks with the whip, then eased him. Sense of Purpose also jogged home.
— It should have been a tipoff on longshots when Hightail got through on the rail to win the first Breeders’ Cup race of the weekend — the $500,000 Juvenile Sprint — for Maragh and trainer D. Wayne Lukas. At 15-1, and with the most modest of credentials, Hightail won by a nose over the odds-on favorite, Merit Man, in a field of just five starters.
The Breeders’ Cup returns the World Championship program to Santa Anita next fall.
– by Robert Kieckhefer
