Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Dortmund escapes shadow of arch rival

ARCADIA, Calif. – This Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile is about reinvention.

Dortmund is trying to reinvent himself as a miler after going down the Triple Crown trail last year at age 3 and this year finding the Breeders’ Cup Classic road too rugged, with potholes like California Chrome out there.

Runhappy is attempting a second act as a two-turn horse after winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last year and being named the year’s champion male sprinter.

Gun Runner is trying to graduate from the nation’s best races restricted to 3-year-olds to facing accomplished older horses.

Tom’s Ready is trying to show he can be as effective going two turns as he is around one.

And Vyjack is trying to parlay a move to California into the richest payday of his career.

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Those five are part of a nine-horse field entered in the second of the Breeders’ Cup races that will be run Friday at Santa Anita. The Dirt Mile, with a purse of $1 million, is race 7 on the 10-race card.

Dortmund will be favored, despite not having won a race in 11 months. He is 0 for 3 this year, but there’s a darn good reason for that – he ran against California Chrome every time.

After Dortmund finished second in the San Diego, third in the Pacific Classic, and second last time out in the Awesome Again, it was clear to trainer Bob Baffert that he needed a different assignment – at a shorter distance, in a race without California Chrome. The Dirt Mile – at a track where Dortmund won the 2015 Santa Anita Derby and has lost only once in six starts – was the right spot.

Martin Garcia is reunited with Dortmund for this race, and they have a terrific record in concert – 7 wins out of 9 starts, and 5 for 5 at Santa Anita.

Runhappy got a late start to the year, finally returning five weeks ago following a nine-month layoff. He faded to fourth in the one-mile Ack Ack on Oct. 1 at Churchill Downs.

“We’re playing catch-up, there’s no question,” said Laura Wohlers, who trains Runhappy. “Ideally, we wanted to start him out in a sprint and then move to a mile, but it didn’t work out.

“It’s a challenge, coming off a layoff. He needed his last race. He’s had one run. He didn’t win, but he’s training well. If he gets a good trip, I think he’ll give a good account of himself.”

Runhappy did turn in a sharp final workout here, indicating he’s at least retained his keen early speed. Dortmund also has been prominent early, so there figures to be a lively pace.

If so, that will help Gun Runner, the remarkably consistent 3-year-old who figures to get an ideal trip and touted himself with a fine work Sunday morning.

“He’s matured a lot,” said Scott Blasi, the top assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “Physically, he’s filled out. He’s gotten deeper. He’s gotten faster as the year’s gone on.”

Gun Runner was third in the Kentucky Derby, and his subsequent starts have included such prestigious races as the Haskell and Travers.

“He’s just solid,” Blasi said. “He’s danced every dance. He’s a quality horse. We’re lucky to have him.”

Tom’s Ready, like Gun Runner, spent Derby prep season in Louisiana. After finishing 12th in the Kentucky Derby, he has raced three times, all around one turn. He won twice, including when defeating Runhappy in the Ack Ack. He’s yet to win around two turns.

Vyjack, a graduate of the Derby class of 2013, was sent west this summer after making his first 25 starts in the Eastern time zone. He won the City of Hope, a one-mile grass race, here in his last start and was a solid second behind sprint star Masochistic in the Pat O’Brien at seven furlongs on dirt at Del Mar. His effectiveness on any surface makes him dangerous.

Accelerate, Point Piper, Tamarkuz, and Texas Chrome round out the field.

Accelerate is taking a major leap in class after winning lesser stakes restricted to 3-year-olds in his last two starts.

Point Piper will appreciate a return to a two-turn mile – the conditions of the Longacres Mile at Emerald, which he won in August – after having finished fourth in the Kelso, a one-turn mile at Belmont.

“We think he’ll like two turns better than one,” said his trainer and co-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer. “He needs pace to run at. He should get it in this race.”

Tamarkuz was second in the Kelso. He has had a steady diet of one-turn races in New York since arriving last year from Dubai, so he’s a question mark going two turns.

Texas Chrome is riding a three-race win streak, all in stakes restricted to 3-year-olds in Louisiana and Oklahoma.