Accelerate takes on fresh West Coast in Awesome Again Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – At the beginning of the year, Accelerate had yet to prove his comfort zone extended beyond middle distances, and the retirement of Gun Runner after the Pegasus World Cup made it appear that West Coast, the Pegasus runner-up, was the heir apparent as the best older horse in the country.

But over the course of 2018, Accelerate has had a jump on the competition – winning three races at 1 1/4 miles with increasingly faster Beyer Speed Figures – and West Coast, limited to a mere two starts, has been playing catch-up.

How wide that gap is, and whether – or how quickly – it is closing, will be among the focal points of the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, where both Accelerate and West Coast will have their final prep for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

The Awesome Again, at 1 1/8 miles, offers a fees-paid berth in the 1 1/4-mile Classic through the Win and You’re In program. Accelerate already has a guaranteed spot via his victory in the Pacific Classic. His place is secure, and he merely needs to hold his strong current form to win again on Saturday.

West Coast has far more to prove. He has been idle since finishing second in the Dubai World Cup, so he is at a decided disadvantage regarding current form. Whatever he does on Saturday, he figures to be the better for it by the time the Breeders’ Cup rolls around.

This race goes through Accelerate. He won the Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup at Santa Anita here earlier in the year, and last time out he ran the best race of his life with a powerful 12 1/2-length victory in the Pacific Classic, earning a career-best 115 Beyer. He is clearly thriving as a 5-year-old.

“He’s just solid,” his trainer, John Sadler, said this week at Santa Anita. “Now that he’s 5, he’s very mature. He’s got a body like a rock. He’s doing so well. He’s a stronger horse, no question.”

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Joel Rosario, who picked up the mount when Victor Espinoza – Accelerate’s regular rider – was sidelined two months ago, is back aboard.

Accelerate carries 125 pounds, two more than West Coast and four more than the four outsiders in the race.

West Coast had a lengthy layoff after returning from Dubai because “I didn’t like how he was doing,” said trainer Bob Baffert.

“He was sore all over,” Baffert said.

West Coast has had six workouts in the past month. Baffert said he preferred to get a race into West Coast, rather than training him straight up to the Classic, because West Coast “is not a brilliant work horse like Arrogate or American Pharoah,” both of whom Baffert trained to Classic victories off two-month rests.

The other runners are looking to pick up table scraps.

Prime Attraction was a distant third in the Pacific Classic, beaten 16 1/4 lengths.

The Lieutenant was sixth in the Pacific Classic. His trainer, Michael McCarthy, said he wants The Lieutenant to be more forwardly placed this time.

Isotherm was second in the listed Harry Brubaker at Del Mar last time out. He has not run in a Grade 1 race since finishing fifth in the 2017 Santa Anita Handicap.

Shades of Victory pulled off a stunning 80-1 upset in the E.B. Johnston Stakes for California-breds on Sept. 8.

The Awesome Again goes as race 11 on a 12-race card that begins at noon Pacific. It will be televised live by NBCSN as part of a telecast that begins at 4 p.m. Pacific.

The Awesome Again is the last of four Grade 1 races that will be run on Saturday at Santa Anita. All are Win and You’re In qualifiers for their corresponding Breeders’ Cup races.

The American Pharoah, race 6, is the local prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and is headed by the one-two finishers from the Del Mar Futurity, Game Winner and Rowayton, along with impressive maiden winner Gunmetal Gray.

The Chandelier, race 9, is a rematch between the principals of the Del Mar Debutante – Bellafina, Mother Mother, and Brill – all of whom are trying to advance to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

And in race 10, the Rodeo Drive, Cambodia looks to earn a second straight berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, a race in which she finished third last year when it was run at Del Mar.

Preceding the races will be a poster giveaway and autograph session with local jockeys and trainers who are members of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Admission gates open at 10 a.m.