Put a line through Bayern’s race in the Pacific Classic as he got caught up in an impossible speed duel. The 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner has had four very serious-looking works since then and, unless Smooth Roller is going to run with him, it looks like he has finally found a field he can clear easily without having to run too fast to get there in Saturday’s Awesome Again at Santa Anita.
One thing trainer Richard Mandella never has seen in horse racing is a slam dunk. Beholder makes it look easy, though, and she is expected to do so again Saturday in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita.
The New York-based mare Hard Not to Like has found a vacation home in Southern California this year. In May, Hard Not to Like won her second career Grade 1 in the Gamely Stakes on turf at Santa Anita, her first start in Southern California. She enhanced that form with a hard-fought win in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga on July 25, her most recent start. On Saturday, Hard Not to Like is back at Santa Anita and trying a new distance in the $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf. If she runs well, the Rodeo Drive could lead to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Saham earned an 86 Beyer Figure last time out under unfavorable circumstances, which is why I like him in Saturday’s Jefferson Cup at Churchill Downs.
Grande Shores will try to regain the honor of being called the leader of the local sprint division when he takes on familiar foes Falling Sky, Ledokol, and the recently arrived Valid in Saturday’s $75,000 Groomstick Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Earlier this week, officials at Gulfstream Park West (a.k.a. Calder) announced that there will be three additions to their betting menu when their meet starts Oct. 7. One is a welcome addition, one is a goofy but fascinating experiment, and one is simply a terrible idea.
Eleven years after his father Speightstown won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and was crowned sprint champion, Rock Fall will try to follow suit. On Saturday, Rock Fall will try to do the one thing Speightstown couldn’t back in 2004: win the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park.
There are 29 upcoming stakes at Belmont Park, Santa Anita, and Keeneland that fit the definition of a Breeders’ Cup prep, and it would be nice and tidy if one could count their winners as the leading contenders for associated Breeders’ Cup races. But in the 265 BC prep races over the last 10 years at the three racecourses, only 28 winners returned to win a Breeders’ Cup race, a lowly 10 percent strike rate. That doesn’t mean the stakes aren’t working as BC preps, but it does suggest that putting forth a winning effort can compromise a horse’s chances of peak performance on Breeders’ Cup weekend.
Always highly regarded, Tapiture hasn’t won in more than a year now. The 4-year-old colt was particularly dull in his most recent start in the Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows in late June, and given nine weeks to regroup, he is looking to regain his form in the Ack Ack Handicap at Churchill Downs.
First at five furlongs, then 6 1/2, and most recently at seven, Nyquist has used his keen speed to secure an advantageous early position and then kick on, earning three straight wins to rank as the best 2-year-old on the West Coast, if not the country.
