Wrapping up the Breeders Cup (part 2 of 3)

Real Writing on Racing 💯

Saturday’s Races (3 -7)

Dirt Mile:

Many will have you believe that the results of a stirring stretch duel in the dirt mile of 2023 boiled down to the eternal battle between good and evil. Cody’s Wish and Bill Mott carrying the hopes of everyone seeking a fantastic ending to the racing life of one of the preeminent dirt milers that we’ve seen, a horse whose career has been intertwined with the the compelling journey of a courageous young boy with the same name. On the other side of the stretch battle is National Treasure who bore the flag of conglomerate interests of assorted billionaires, trained by racing’s resident walking controversy, Bob Baffert…clearly donning the black hat for this matchup.

For those of us that resist the fabricated storylines that create silly narratives, the lead up to the race was more of racing’s never-ending skirmish between deep closers and tepid pace scenarios. Clearly Cody’s Wish was by far the most talented and accomplished of the nine horses that lined up to face the starter but his two-turn race record was spotty, the son of Curlin’s last few races hadn’t been as sharp as his earlier work and the possibility for a less than solid pace existed with only Zozos having been on the lead consistently in previous efforts. Surely Baffert and jockey Flavian Prat realized that when planning their pre-race strategy, as we noted in the preview for this event, it’s highly unlikely Team Baffert was in here to try to just ‘pick up a check’. Prat sent hard from the outset, clearing the field including Zozos, who was a little sluggish leaving the gate, laying 4th on the inside after getting shuffled in the first turn. Straightening away down the backside, National Treasure was setting fast fractions (22.54), chased on the outside by Skippylongstocking with longshot Shirl’s Bee outside of him in 3rd and Charge It and Zozos racing in tandem in 4th and 5th, an unexpected development. Cody’s Wish was typically far back passing the half mile pole but jockey Junior Alvarado was on the move heading into the far turn, trying to save as much ground as he could around that bend, eventually getting to the rail as the field turned for home. National Treasure was still running strong as he straightened for the final 3/16 with Cody’s Wish now breathing down his neck, eventually collaring him with about 100 yards to go. Prat sensing that Cody’s Wish might have been a bit gassed from his extended run angled National Treasure out to engage his rival, causing the two to brush. Cody’s Wish drifted back towards National Treasure and the two brushed again a few times, neither really gaining or losing an edge. After a few tense moments even the southern California stewards couldn’t screw this one up and the official sign was lit, causing everyone that didn’t have 9 on top of their tickets to feel just a little bit better.

In the aftermath, Cody’s Wish likely put himself directly into the Horse of the Year discussion and almost assuredly a Hall of Fame nomination as he heads off to stud. National Treasure’s people seemed to finally figure out that he is a ‘need the lead’ horse and will be pointed to a 4yo campaign against what seems to be a pretty barren potential older horse landscape. Skippylongstocking ran a representative race to be third and that same softish scene awaits his return I’d assume in the Pegasus at GP this winter. Pretty much forget the rest as Zozos didn’t run a step, Charge It remains an enigma and Stage Raider was far back throughout.

F/M Turf:

For the 1st time a Breeders Cup race was run with zero horses bred in the United States entered. Moira is Canadian bred so technically North America was represented yet the stark reality is that we just aren’t producing very many world class grass horses on these shores. That said, the domestic trained fillies and mares didn’t fare a whole lot better as Inspiral (GB) swept by the field in the stretch under a revived Frankie Dettori, who may or may not have been riding in his final Breeders Cup. The 4yo Frankel filly, trained by British mainstay, John Gosden, was a strong favorite against a nice group of turf distaffers including Irish 3yo Warm Heart, US speed merchant who was third in this event last year, In Italian (GB) and Argentine import, Didia (Arg) who tuned up over the course in the Rodeo Drive (Gr II) last month. The question coming into the race was, could Inspiral (GB) who’d been a terror throughout her career at a mile, stretch her brilliant form out to 10 furlongs? The answer of course was yes as her late blitz confirmed what Gosden had believed, the filly following in her sire’s footsteps as the great Frankel didn’t run past the 8 furlong distance till late in his career. It was a bit surprising that Inspiral (GB) was the first progeny of Frankel to win a Breeders Cup race, his successes at stud being so vast that his fee was recently announced at £350,000, a sizable bump from the £275,000 that he was last season. When you consider that not so deep down in his pedigree, the great Frankel is grandson of Sadlers Wells, a Kentucky bred son of Northern Dancer, and is out of a mare by Kentucky bred Danehill, by Danzig…you wonder where did we go wrong with our inability to produce top class grass runners. As for the rest of the field, Warm Heart (Ire) ran well but was just 2nd best, Moira ran really well despite some early traffic trouble, Win Marylin (Jpn) was sneaky good as early congestion coming off the dirt crossover cost her valuable position, the first of jockey Demuro’s less than ideal rides. In Italian (GB) set a quick pace and caved in late as she just wasn’t as good this year as she was last season and Didia (Arg) just didn’t fire. I don’t know officially how many of these will be back for another season of racing in 2024 but I’d guess not many.

F/M Sprint:

I don’t know what the logic was for not putting the Sprint in this race slot rather than as the closing Cup race but next year they should consider swapping them. There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this race other than it’s hard to think that Echo Zulu wouldn’t have won had she not been injured (yes I realize they were pointing to the actual Sprint). On paper it looked like Ghostzapper’s 5 yo mare, Goodnight Olive was just better than these and as it turns out those sentiments were correct. The only potential issue that might have troubled trainer Chad Brown pre-race, was getting bogged down inside from post 1 like she did earlier in the year in the Derby City Distaff but she broke like a shot, allowing Irad Ortiz some maneuvering room which he used to force their way out on the turn from behind the early speed duel between Eda and Society. She collared Society at the top of the stretch, Irad being Irad of course allowed GNO to duck in and come dangerously close to impeding her tiring rival before being kept to task to the wire, the final margin being 2 ¾ lengths over outsiders Yuugiri and Three Witches. Society once again proved she can’t take a lot of early pace pressure and beat good horses, Eda wasn’t good enough, Matareya threw in a clunker and Japanese turf sprinter Meikei Yell (Jpn) probably won’t be seen on dirt again. The winner of this race is usually voted champion female sprinter though Goodnight Olive is going to have some competition this year from the mercurial Echo Zulu who beat her pretty emphatically in their only head-to-head matchup in the Ballerina (Gr I).

Turf Mile:

Every year there are few more contentious races run than the Breeders' Cup Mile (turf version) and this edition was a solid group as usual. The slight post time favorite (I suppose we have to call them the ‘halfway through the race’ favorite on some occasions) Japanese filly Songline (Jpn) had a wide trip and wasn’t able to muster up the needed late rally but with the order of finish consisting of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th choices, I’d say it was pretty formful. Yet it took a furious late charge down the middle of the Santa Anita turf course by 5 yo Dubawi (Ire) gelding Master of the Seas (Ire) and Bill Buick for for familiar faces, Chuck Appleby and Godolphin, to make that happen. 3yo filly Mawj (Ire) sat a nice trip behind a fast pace set by long shots Win Carnelian (Jpn) and Astronomer, moving to the lead mid-stretch and appeared to be on her way to victory until her Goldolphin compatriot Master of the Seas (Ire) stormed past her and everyone else to get up by a nose. Casa Creed put in a nice run but simply wasn’t good enough when checking in third, a half-length better than filly Gina Romantica. More Than Looks also finished strong but jockey Joel Rosario took too long getting him wound up to unleash his powerful late kick, beaten only 2 lengths and might have won had the race been a mile and 75 yards. It’s unlikely that this race has much to do with year end awards as Master of the Seas (Ire) lost to Up to the Mark at Keeneland last out, likely dooming his chance of getting many votes for champion turf male.

Distaff:

Both the three year old filly and older mare divisions have been relatively unsettled most of the year and when Pretty Mischievous was an early scratch, it didn’t really serve to clear things up very much, especially on the 3yo side of the table. One element that this years Distaff wasn’t  lacking was early pace as four of the entrants had been on the lead as recently as their last race. The public and their computer team adversaries settled on Idiomatic, a Curlin filly from the vaunted Brad Cox racing machine, fresh off of her scores in the Personal Ensign (Gr I) and Spinster (Gr I) as the chalk at 9-5, with deep closer Clairiere, a clear 2nd choice at 3-1. Breaking from the starting gate, Alabama and Beldame winner Randomized was sent to the lead by Jose Ortiz with Idiotmatic under Florent Geroux in hot pursuit with hopeless longshot Hoosier Philly chasing from the inside in 3rd and the boss of the Californa fillies, Adare Manor outside of her in 4th. Search Results laid back a touch further than usual in 5th while late runners Le Da Vida (Chi), Wet Paint and Clairiere all bided their time at the back of the pack. The pace up front was swift (22.31 x 46.26 x 1:10.16) and try as she may, Randomized couldn’t shake her Idiomatic shadow and those two dueled around the final turn and into the stretch, getting a few lengths clear of the field. Hoosier Philly stopped on the turn, Adare Manor never really menanced, Wet Paint never got out of a gallop, Search Results loomed wide but couldn’t sustain her rally. Clairiere and Joel Rosario were gearing up along the inside while Victor Cheminaud aboard Le Da Vida (Chi) kept her behind horses even though she appeared to have a lot of run left. Slowly but surely Idiomatic’s grinding wore down Randomized as they began to pay the toll of the fast early fractions, Rosario threading the needle with Clairiere but never really getting her in the clear and finally Cheminaud tugged on the right rein and Le De Vida (Chi) began to wind up her finally rally. At the wire it was Idiomatic gamely holding on, Le De Vida (Chi) losing the place photo to Randomized and Clairiere once again with another tough beat 4th in the Distaff. To the victors go the spoils and an older mare eclipse will be heading to Juddmonte though any horse of the year talk feels more like a 2017 University of Central Florida situation (Google it) than anything. Love the busy schedule, but this was a very ordinary group of older mares this season and call me a traditionalist if you’d like but a non-dominant filly (IMO De La Vida (Chi) wins the Distaff will a more aggressive ride) that didn’t face/beat males in an open race is a hard HoY sale for me. As for the 3yo filly title, does Randomized’s 2nd in here along with the Alabama (Gr 1) and Beldame (Gr 1) scores trump Pretty Mischievous’ strong spring/summer? That’s a column for another day.

*We will cover the Turf, Turf Sprint, Sprint and Classic in part 3 that should be out Monday.