Baffert thinking single Breeders' Cup prep for McKinzie

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With a signature victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on his résumé and a berth in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in November secured, McKinzie was scheduled to head home to California on Monday and he might not have to leave the state for the remainder of the year.

Trainer Bob Baffert said he would likely run McKinzie one more time before the BC Classic, scheduled for Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. By process of elimination, the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28 might make the most sense.

On Sunday morning, Baffert was noncommittal on McKinzie’s next start. He said if he were going to run back in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward in Saratoga on Aug. 31 “I’d have to leave him here, and I don’t want to do that,” Baffert said.

Baffert also didn’t seem keen on running McKinzie 1 1/4 miles in a race like the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park before running that distance again in the BC Classic. The Awesome Again is run at 1 1/8 miles over a Santa Anita surface on which McKinzie has two graded stakes wins, was disqualified from a third, and has two seconds.

“I don’t know if I’m going to ship him again or leave him at home,” said Baffert, himself scheduled to stay in Saratoga for the Fasig-Tipton yearling auction Monday and Tuesday. “I haven’t really sat down to think about it.”

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Baffert was just happy to have gotten “a proper Grade 1” victory for McKinzie, who had won the Los Alamitos Derby at 2 and the Pennsylvania Derby and Malibu at 3. This year, McKinzie lost the Santa Anita Handicap by a nose and was a troubled-trip second in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on June 8.

In the Whitney, McKinzie received and up-close stalking trip under Mike Smith, put away Preservationist in upper stretch, and easily held Yoshida at bay while never feeling the leather of Smith’s whip. McKinzie’s final time of 1:47.10 for 1 1/8 miles equaled the second-fastest Whitney run since it was moved to that distance in 1955. McKinzie earned a career-best 111 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I just want to keep him at that level,” Baffert said. “I don’t want to see any more.”

Yoshida finished second by 4 3/4 lengths in the Whitney, a much-improved effort over the trio of sixth-place finishes he had to begin the year. Yoshida won the Woodward last year and Mott said he would definitely look at bringing him back in that spot.

“If Yoshida’s good, we could certainly look at it,” Mott said.

Mott was pointing Hofburg, an allowance winner here earlier in the meet, to the Woodward, but said that horse “got a little bit of a snotty nose” after that race.

“Our schedule has gotten a little bit tight with him as far as coming back for the Woodward,” Mott said.

Others who could possibly make the Woodward are Gunnevera, second to Yoshida last year, Catholic Boy, the 2018 Travers winner, and Tom’s d’Etat and Wooderson, the 1-2 finishers in Friday’s $100,000 Alydar Stakes.

► All-sources handle for Saturday’s 11-race card was $31,835,863, a Whitney Day record. The previous mark was $30,153,138 set in 2017. Ontrack handle was $7,078,192 and paid attendance was 40,791.