Awesome Again a race with more questions than answers
The Awesome Again, as Winston Churchill once famously described Russia, is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” The race is named for a horse who never ran at Santa Anita, and once you ponder that you can move on to the germane questions for this year’s race, such as:
Can the 3-year-old Medina Spirit step up and beat older horses?
Can Tripoli continue his newfound glory now that he’s moved to dirt?
Can Tizamagician be as effective turning back to 1 1/8 miles as he is at 1 1/4 miles, and particularly beyond?
Can Idol, off since March, come back as good as he left?
And which versions of Express Train and Midcourt will show up?
Those are among the many factors handicappers will have to parse in this year’s edition of the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again, to be run Saturday at Santa Anita as part of a stakes-filled card offering multiple berths to respective Breeders’ Cup races five weeks hence. The Awesome Again is a Win and You’re In for the 1 1/4-mile Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
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The Awesome Again is race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific. There are four other stakes, two of which – the Rodeo Drive for female turf runners, and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship – are Win and You’re In races for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and Breeders’ Cup Sprint, respectively. Two terrific grass races – the City of Hope Mile and John Henry Turf Championship – complete the day.
Medina Spirit figures to utilize the front-running tactics that carried him to first-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and, most recently, the Shared Belief at Del Mar. John Velazquez continues his association with the colt, who was kept out of last week’s Pennsylvania Derby, against fellow 3-year-olds, and thus will take on older rivals for the first time.
“I think the extra week helped. I didn’t want to ship. It wasn’t a good fit,” his trainer, Bob Baffert, said of deciding to stay home. “He’s here. We know he likes Del Mar. This gives him a better chance to get there. We’ll see how he handles older horses.”
Baffert also entered Azul Coast, who won a second-level allowance going one mile on Aug. 22 at Del Mar in his second start following a layoff of nearly 10 months.
“He still has a lot to prove, but he’s training well, so it’s worth taking a swing,” Baffert said.
Tripoli already is in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, via his victory in the Pacific Classic last time out, in which he got a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 104. He owns two wins and a second in three starts since moving to dirt.
His trainer, John Sadler, said after the Pacific Classic that he wasn’t sure if Tripoli would simply train up to the Breeders’ Cup, but this week said Tripoli had “done surprisingly well” since the race and was ready to go again.
“He’s done super, so it makes sense to run,” Sadler said.
Tizamagician chased home Tripoli in the Pacific Classic, finishing second by 1 1/4 lengths in a race where they were the top two throughout. His last five starts have been at 1 1/4 miles or 1 1/2 miles. This race will determine whether he goes on to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, or the 1 5/8-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, according to his trainer, Richard Mandella.
“He’s a professional racehorse,” Mandella said. “I thought he ran very well in the Pacific Classic. If shortening up here doesn’t work we always can go long in that race the weekend of the Breeders’ Cup. But if he does well, I’ve got a different idea.”
Idol won the 1 1/4-mile Santa Anita Handicap in March, but was sidelined soon thereafter. The Awesome Again, trainer Richard Baltas said Thursday, is a means to an end.
“I think he’s probably going to need a race,” Baltas said. “I got him up to three-quarters at San Luis Rey Downs, then brought him to Santa Anita to get a couple works over this deeper track. He’s at his best at a mile and a quarter. I don’t think he’s 100 percent cranked up. But he’s ready to run.”
Express Train was sixth as the favorite in the Pacific Classic following a victory at Del Mar in the Grade 2 San Diego. He was run down late by Idol when finishing second in the Santa Anita Handicap.
Midcourt, like Express Train trained by John Shirreffs, has been shopping for a spot for months after winning a money allowance at Santa Anita in June. This is only his second start since Dec. 26.
Stilleto Boy, third in the Shared Belief, will be the longest shot in the field.