A Huge Weekend of Important BC Prep Races

A Review of 19 American and European Graded Stakes Races

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
October 10, 2007

Nearly 20 rich graded stakes races were run in America and Europe over the weekend and all had implications for more than 50 Breeders' Cup prospects.

Below are my impressions of the best and least impressive performers who will deserve further analysis in the 11 Breeders' Cup races at Monmouth Park on October 26th and 27th. Please note that because of the length and breadth of these reviews, I have postponed my preview of the eight October 27th Breeders' Cup races until next week when there will be very few stakes to report.

Friday, October 5

Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky

* The $500,000 Alcibiades (G1) at 1 1/6 miles for 2-year-old fillies

Stretch running Country Star made up three lengths in the final 1/16 miles to win this useful stakes race that has a positive history in producing Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly contenders. Trainer Bobby Frankel has a very promising youngster on his hands.

Saturday, October 6

Belmont Park in Elmont, New York

* The $400,000 Champagne Stakes (G1) at 1 mile for 2-year-olds

War Pass remained undefeated in three outings for trainer Nick Zito with a near wire-to-wire score over two of the most impressive American 2-year-olds seen at Saratoga. Meanwhile, Billy Mott's Majestic Warrior and Todd Pletcher's Ready's Image, the 1-2 finishers in the Hopeful at Saratoga on September 3rd, looked awful in this race. Majestic Warrior may be a 2008 Kentucky Derby prospect, but he was closer to the pace than usual before fading badly. Ready's Image, bred essentially for a mile, lost his best stride at the top of the stretch as if there may be an emerging physical problem.

* The $400,000 Frizette (G1) at 1 mile for 2-year-old fillies

The Bob Baffert-trained Indian Blessing controlled the pace and won as if this was a one-horse race. In retrospect, it probably was.

* The $250,000 Jamaica (G2) at 1 1/8 miles on the turf for 3-year-olds

Nobiz Like Shobiz took a major step forward for trainer Barclay Tagg, showing more late acceleration than ever while taking his third straight on grass. Tagg did say after the race, however, that he is probably going to skip the Breeders' Cup Mile and run this high-profile 3-year-old in the Hollywood Derby in November. What a crop of 3-year-olds we have had this year in America! (See Street Sense, Curlin, Any Given Saturday, Hard Spun, Nobiz Like Shobiz plus the extraordinary fillies Rags to Riches and Dream Spun, among many others with legitimate Grade 1 form.)

Keeneland

* The $400,000 First Lady Stakes (G2) at 1 1/8 miles on the turf for fillies and mares 3 years old and up

Vacare, a high-class 3-year-old trained by Christophe Clement, was a clear-cut winner over the western-based multiple graded stakes winner Precious Kitten.

Vacare is now 6 for 8 lifetime with three graded stakes wins on turf. Precious Kitten, a 4-year-old trained by Bobby Frankel, has won 6 of 16 with 8 seconds and more than $1 million and rarely runs a poor race.

Meanwhile, 7-5 favorite Lady of Venice performed poorly just as almost all of trainer Patrick Biancone's horses have performed since he was formally suspended for one year for possessing snake venom in his Keeneland barn. Biancone is free to train his horses through the Breeders' Cup, pending the appeal he filed last week. Another multiple graded stakes winner, Ermine, failed to contend and might be over the top after a long, cross country campaign. All of these fillies and mares were prepping for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

* The $600,000 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) for 3-year-olds and up

Longshot Purim turned in one of his best races to get up in time over Cosmonaut and Shakis, a pair of solid graded stakes performers at longer distances this summer. The disappointment was the European-based Astronomer Royal who had won a Group 1 in France during May but had tailed off in more recent engagements in England and France. The Shadwell was Purim's first Grade 1 stakes win and his performance earned him a career best 105 Beyer Speed Figure. None of the others in the field gave any indication of Breeders' Cup talent.

* The $500,000 Lane's End Breeders' Futurity (G1) at 1 1/16 miles for 2-year-olds

Wicked Style, who won the Arlington Washington Futurity at one mile on September 3rd, did the near impossible here. He broke from post 12 of 12 and led the field wire-to-wire, a difficult feat around two turns on Keeneland's Polytrack. Trained by veteran Rusty Arnold, Wicked Style now goes to the speed-friendly Monmouth surface where he and Champagne winner War Pass may have to figure out a way not to cancel each other out with a suicidal pace duel in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Todd Pletcher's slow-breaking The Roundhouse, a $2.20-1 betting favorite, never made a serious bid and finished sixth. However, the four other horses in front of him - Slew's Tiznow, Old Man Buck, Adriano and Tend - raced in spots and may be eligible for improvement.

* The $250,000 Phoenix Stakes (G3) at 6 furlongs for 3-year-olds and up

Longshot Off Duty, expertly trained by Lynn Whiting, stalked the pace and edged clear late over the Graham Motion-trained turf sprinter Rebellion, who is improving but unlikely to get into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint. For that matter, Whiting said he is unlikely to accept the 'Win and You're In' ticket to the Breeders' Cup with Off Duty. Whiting knows that Off Duty did not defeat much in this, the oldest continually run stakes in North America. On a very sad note, the well-campaigned 3-year-old Teuflesberg suffered serious injuries leaving the starting gate and has been operated on in an attempt to preserve his life.

* The $300,000 Thoroughbred Club of America (G3) at 6 furlongs for fillies and mares 3 years old and up

Stretch-running Wild Gams and Sugar Swirl finished well for their 1-2 placing here. Favored Baroness Thatcher, trained by Biancone, was a fair third. Several others did make premature bids in a race that was clocked faster than the Phoenix with male horses on the same Keeneland card. Both Wild Gams and Sugar Swirl may be seen next in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on October 26th. That's the race where they will have to deal with Dream Rush's electric early speed.

Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California

* The $250,000 Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship Stakes (G1) at 1 1/4 miles on the turf for 3-year-olds and up

Heavily favored The Tin Man, now 9 years old, turned in a very good performance but was upstaged by Artiste Royal, a useful 6-year-old ridgling who was racing with blinkers in his second outing of the year and his second since Neil Drysdale took him over from Laura de Seroux this summer. While Artiste Royal looked 'brand new', he is likely to skip the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf in favor of the Japan Cup later in the fall. The Tin Man, trained by Dick Mandella, could go in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders' Cup race which he skipped last year. Third-place finisher Isipingo did improve but has yet to win a stakes and probably will be excluded from the Breeders' Cup field.

Longchamps Racecourse in Paris, France

* The $250,000 Prix de la Forêt (G1) at 1400 meters (about 7 furlongs) for 3-year-olds and up

Toylesome controlled the pace for four furlongs and then accelerated away from the field to win by several lengths in a common gallop. This suggests that he may have the ability to be a force in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile on October 27th, just as the French-based sprinter Last Tycoon was in the 1993 Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park. Not sure we will see Toylesome at Monmouth, but that is true for all but a few of the Europeans who did well at Longchamps on October 6th and 7th.

Sunday, October 7

Belmont Park

* The $150,000 Jerome Handicap (G2) at 1 mile for 3-year-olds

Add Daaher to the growing list of exceedingly talented 3-year-olds. Fourth in the Queens Plate at Woodbine in June, third in the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie in July, Daaher thoroughly embarrassed older horses in a nine-furlong allowance route on dirt at Saratoga on August 26th to signal a breakthrough for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. The Jerome was Daaher's next outing, his first turf race at any distance and it was a revelation.

Daaher stumbled at the break, rushed up to stalk very fast fractions (6 furlongs in 1:08.35) and took complete command to edge clear by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:34.28. The Beyer Figure was 110, the highest earned in any stakes race on any track in America on the big weekend of major Breeders' Cup prep stakes! Now it can only be hoped that the Shadwell stable of the Dubai ruling family will decide to put Daaher in the Breeders' Cup Mile where he fits very well despite his limited experience. Favored Most Distinguished did not run well in this turf event and may fit better in the Breeders' Cup Sprint or Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

Keeneland

* The $500,000 Spinster Stakes (G1) at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-old fillies

Bobby Frankel's versatile and strong finishing 3-year-old posted an upset over the other high-profile 3-year-old filly in this field, Lady Joanne, the winner of the prestigious Alabama Stakes for trainer Carl Nafzger on August 17th. Where Lady Joanne set the pace and probably gained needed conditioning from this effort on the Polytrack, Panty Raid clearly improved on her fifth-place finish in the Alabama to score her third graded stakes win this year - one on dirt, one on turf and one on Polytrack. Teammate, who usually runs on the lead for trainer Allen Jerkens, showed a possible new dimension here rallying for third. But we should be reminded that the Spinster was on the synthetic Keeneland racing strip that has been biased towards stretch-running types.

Santa Anita Park

* The $300,000 Ancient Title Stakes (G1) at 6 furlongs for 3-year-olds and up

Idiot Proof, the track record holder for 6 furlongs at Monmouth Park, scored on the lead to post a Santa Anita Cushion Track record clocking of 1:07.57 on a track so blazingly fast that it only earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 101, well below par for Grade 1 sprinters. While Idiot Proof has already shown that he likes Monmouth and probably can run a much bigger figure in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, Greg's Gold was trapped inside through much of the final three furlongs and finished fastest for second when clear very late. The performance probably was better than the winner's.

Bordonaro, a major force in the sprint division for two years, could not sustain his speed bid and finished a weary third as if he is over the top and needing a long rest, or retirement.

* The $250,000 Lady's Secret Handicap (G1) at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-old fillies

Bob Baffert's improving 3-year-old filly Tough Tiz's Sis, a gritty third to Lear's Princess and Rags to Riches in the Gazelle (G1) at Belmont on September 15th, reprised that gritty effort here. Close to the pace throughout, Baffert's filly out-gamed the 4-year-old odds-on favorite Hystericalady by a nose to earn a spot in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff on October 27th. The latter, a Grade 2 winner over the Monmouth Park racing strip, lost nothing except money in her narrow defeat. She too will be at Monmouth on October 27th.

* The $250,000 Oak Tree Mile Stakes (G2) on the turf for 3-year-olds and up

Bobby Frankel's Out of Control rallied as usual to narrowly out-game longshot Zann at the Breeders' Cup Mile distance and now is expected to go forward to Monmouth. Zann, a non-stakes winner, needed to win this race to get into the Breeders' Cup Mile field.

Lava Man, the 9-year-old who has won countless graded stakes in Southern California on dirt and turf, looked badly over the top while fading from contention in this event and probably should be retired after 17 victories, 8 seconds and 3 thirds from 42 starts for career earnings in excess of $5.2 million.

Surf Cat, second in both of his 2007 races at 7 furlongs on the Hollywood Cushion track and the Del Mar Polytrack, showed little here and may also be giving signals that he has had enough after repeated injuries led to breaks in his productive racing career. Now 5 years old, Surf Cat has 7 wins and 5 seconds in 14 career starts for more than $680,000 in earnings.

Longchamps

* The $330,000 Prix de l' Abbaye de Longchamp (G1) at 1000 meters (about 5 furlongs) on the turf for 2-year-olds and up

Benbaum accelerated sharply if not prematurely at 500 meters to open up a decisive advantage. He noticeably began to tire a bit approaching the wire when second-place finisher Kingsgate Native was kicking into his best stride way too late to make a serious impact. Doubtful either horse can seriously challenge America's best sprinters at 6 furlongs on a dirt track.

* The $330,000 Prix de l' Opéra (G1) at 2000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) on the turf for fillies and mares 3 years old and up

The 5-year-old Satwa Queen, who was fifth in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs and a winner of a Group 2 race in August at Deauville, rallied between horses very late to win a tough three-horse photo. Second-place finisher Promising Lead and third-place finisher Legerete ran strongly through the final 400 meters and as 3-year-olds may be eligible for further improvement if sent to Monmouth. Another 3-year-old filly, Mystic Lips, set a very brisk pace on the rain-softened ground and faded badly.

* The $2 million Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) at 2400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) on the turf for 3-year-olds and up (no geldings, no ridglings)

World-class Dylan Thomas, an ill-advised fourth-place finisher on dirt in the 2006 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park (won by Bernardini), has had a spectacular 2007 in European Group 1 stakes on turf. Although he is supposed to dislike soft or even good turf, he was in championship form to score by a diminishing length over the Irish-bred longshot Youzmain. The 3-year-old Sagara was a non-threatening third, but the result may have been totally bogus given the interference caused by Dylan Thomas as he was making his winning surge about 400 meters from the finish.

Crossing over in front of several horses in mid pack, Dylan Thomas probably should have been disqualified, but the French stewards let the result stand after a prolonged inquiry. Win, lose, or whatever, Dylan Thomas clearly is a formidable turf horse who is expected to run in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf. Others who competed in this European classic race may also ship to Monmouth, pending their relative condition and preference for firm footing.

Next week: A closer look at the eight Breeders' Cup races that will be run on Saturday, October 27th with emphasis on the horses moving forward and those that seem to be struggling to maintain their 2007 form.

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.