Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Chancer McPatrick, Ferocious on course for rematch
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Chancer McPatrick and Ferocious, the one-two finishers in last month’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, have gone in different directions, but hope to find their way back toward a rematch in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Chancer McPatrick, who won the Hopeful by a half-length, has remained in New York for Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct while Ferocious, arguably the most impressive 2-year-old male maiden winner at Saratoga before his half-length defeat in the Hopeful, heads the field in Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
Chad Brown, the trainer of Chancer McPatrick, said he chose the Champagne in part because it cuts down on the amount of shipping Chancer McPatrick would have to do between now and an intended start in the Breeders’ Cup. In 2017, when the Breeders’ Cup was held at Del Mar, Brown won the Juvenile with Good Magic, a maiden coming out of a runner-up performance in the Champagne.
Ramiro Restrepo, representing the large ownership group involved with the Gustavo Delgado-trained Ferocious, said the $600,000 Breeders Futurity was chosen for that horse to afford him the opportunity to stretch out around two turns.
The Champagne, Breeders’ Futurity, and the Grade 1, $300,000 American Pharoah at Santa Anita, all offer automatic, fees-paid berths into the Juvenile and should help define the top contenders for the 1 1/16-mile dirt race that typically produces the champion 2-year-old.
The Champagne field includes the undefeated New York-bred Mo Plex (3 for 3), who won the Grade 3 Sanford and the Funny Cide for statebreds during the Saratoga meet, and J J Zo Zo, who won the Smoke Glacken Stakes by 8 1/2 lengths at Monmouth.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, a four-time BC Juvenile winner, has the pair of Saratoga debut maiden winners Tip Top Thomas and Uncaged in the field for the Champagne, a race Pletcher has won six times.
At Keeneland, Ferocious will take on 10 fellow maiden winners including Dapper Moon, East Avenue, Filoso, and Optical, the latter a 14-length winner of maiden auction race at Churchill two weeks ago.
In California, Bob Baffert was expected to enter three in the American Pharoah but not his Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity winner Gaming, who went 2 for 2 during the Del Mar summer meet, and who will train up to the Juvenile
“He ran hard,” Baffert said. “I think sometimes it’s better to have a fresher horse. He’s doing really well.”
Baffert’s trio of American Pharoah starters were expected to include Getaway Car, Citizen Bull, and Emerald Bay. Getaway Car got hooked in a speed duel in the Del Mar Futurity while Citizen Bull flattened out after a wide trip. Emerald Bay won his maiden in his second start, a two-turn mile at Del Mar.
McKinzie Street, the runner-up to Gaming trained by Tim Yakteen, looks to be the main competition to the Baffert trio.
Jonathan’s Way and Owen Almighty, the one-two finishers in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs, are both on schedule for the Juvenile, per their respective trainers Phil Bauer and Brian Lynch.
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