After missing Saudi Cup, Magnitude points to Razorback

An untimely fever kept Magnitude from shipping to last weekend’s Saudi Cup, a change in schedule that keeps him following directly in the hoofprints of a famed predecessor.

Gun Runner, like Magnitude, was trained by Steve Asmussen for Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds. During his 3-year-old season, Gun Runner finished a distant third in the Travers, a much closer second in the Pennsylvania Derby, and capped his campaign beating older horses in the Clark Stakes.

Gun Runner launched his 4-year-old season winning the Razorback at Oaklawn as a prep for the Dubai World Cup, where he finished second behind an all-time performance from Arrogate. Arrogate never was the same, while Gun Runner won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic and was named Horse of the Year.

Magnitude finished a distant third last August in the Travers, a much closer second in the Pennsylvania Derby, won the Clark, and now will use the Razorback on Feb. 28 as a prep for the Dubai World Cup.

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“Another Gun Runner? That’d be nice,” David Fiske, Winchell’s racing manager, said Wednesday morning. “It’s not impossible.”

Magnitude had his final serious workout for the Saudi Cup on Jan. 29 at Fair Grounds.

He “looked fantastic, and then I get a call early the next morning – never a good sign – and Magnitude had a temperature of 104,” Fiske said. “Within about 48 hours, he was back to normal.”

Magnitude will work this Sunday at Fair Grounds and ship the following day to Oaklawn. If all goes well and Magnitude moves forward as a 4-year-old, there’s still the looming presence of Breeders’ Cup Classic and Saudi Cup winner Forever Young, who arrived Tuesday in Dubai.

“Wherever you go for a lot of money, it seems like you’re going to run into Forever Young,” Fiske said.

While Magnitude stayed home in New Orleans, the Asmussen-trained 3-year-old Obliteration shipped to the Saudi Derby, a one-turn mile, where he ran a winning race but was tagged just before the wire by local star Al Haram. Asmussen said last weekend he has no plans to try and stretch Obliteration to two turns and will tentatively target the Pat Day Mile, a one-turn race May 2 at Churchill Downs.

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