Breeders' Cup Clocker: Mitole blazes five furlongs from gate for Breeders' Cup Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mitole will have been off for more than two months when he goes in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2, so his connections desired getting a sharp work into him in preparation for a race that is shaping up as the strongest of the two-day festival.

On Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, they got all that, and more.

Mitole was absolutely brilliant in a five-furlong work from the gate just as dawn broke. With Mike Smith up, he flew out of the gate like a Quarter Horse and motored five furlongs in 58.27 seconds on the watch of Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch, indicating the three-time Grade 1 winner of 2019 is on go for the Sprint.

“He hasn’t run since August. Talking to Steve,” assistant trainer Scott Blasi said, referring to his boss, Steve Asmussen, “we wanted a sharp work from the gate, and we got exactly that. His recovery time was great. He was really proud of himself cooling out.”

Smith said Mitole was doing it within himself.

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“Did it nice. Did it the right way. Recovered quick,” said Smith, who was helping out the Asmussen barn, as Ricardo Santana Jr. has the mount in the Breeders’ Cup.

“It’s just a joy to get on these horses,” he said.

Mitole has not raced since winning the Forego at Saratoga on Aug. 24. Earlier this year, he won the Met Mile at Belmont and the Churchill Downs. If he wins the Sprint, it would be his fourth Grade 1 win of the year, earned at four different tracks, and he would be the favorite to win the Eclipse Award as male sprinter, and would have a résumé that puts him in play for Horse of the Year.

Mitole was one of a handful of Breeders’ Cup horses who worked on Tuesday. Santa Anita’s main track has been closed this meet on Tuesdays, but was available for works this week and will be next week, too, as the Breeders’ Cup draws near. Bob Baffert used the occasion to send out Bast in preparation for the Juvenile Fillies, and McKinzie for the Classic.

Bast, working in company, went five furlongs in 1:00.96 on Welsch’s watch and then galloped out another quarter-mile. Her work took place just moments before Mitole’s drill.

“I thought the track was slow until Mitole worked,” Baffert cracked.

Baffert said he “wanted to get a good work into” Bast, who is coming off a hard-fought victory in the Chandelier here.

Later in the morning, McKinzie worked by himself, going seven furlongs in 1:24.70 and then continuing out a mile. He then jogged all the way down the backstretch before exiting the track at the quarter-mile chute, mirroring how Arrogate was handled before his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic here in 2016 for Baffert.

“He moves like Arrogate. He’s going to have to be like Arrogate,” Baffert said. “He went really nice. There aren’t too many who can work 1:24 around here.”

Rafael Bejarano was aboard both Bast and McKinzie for their works, but John Velasquez and Joel Rosario, respectively, ride them in their Breeders’ Cup races.

Bejarano was rewarded for his morning work, though. Baffert on Tuesday said he was putting Bejarano on Improbable for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

“I threw him a bone. Actually, it’s a bone with a lot of meat on it,” said Baffert, who has been bullish on Improbable’s recent drills.

“He’s doing the best he’s ever done,” Baffert said.