Breeders' Cup Juvenile: U. S. S. Valor could stay docked

The field for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile should come into focus following Saturday’s trio of Grade 1 stakes run across the country, all of which afford their winner a fees-paid berth into the 1 1/16-mile race on Oct. 30 at Keeneland. But one thing that is already clear is that the race will be missing some of the division’s early-season stars.

Already sidelined due to injury or infirmity are Grade 1 Hopeful winner The Good Life, Grade 2 Saratoga Special winner Twinkle Town, and impressive debut winners Pharocity and Inshallah.

U. S. S. Valor, the flashy second-time-out maiden winner at Saratoga, may be vying for an automatic Juvenile berth when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park, but his connections are far from booking their hotel rooms in Lexington. Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor International, which owns and bred U. S. S. Valor, notes the Juvenile’s poor record of success in the Kentucky Derby – only Street Sense and Nyquist have pulled off the double in 42 years – as one reason not to run in the Juvenile.

“I don’t like the whole thing, but I don’t want to tell Shug what to do,” said Irwin, referring to trainer Shug McGaughey.

McGaughey won the 1989 Juvenile with Rhythm and hasn’t run in the race since Saarland finished eighth in 2001. McGaughey has said he would wait until after the Champagne to evaluate whether to move on to the Breeders’ Cup.

U. S. S. Valor, a son of War of Will, won a seven-furlong maiden race by 13 1/4 lengths on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, earning a gaudy 105 Beyer Speed Figure. That followed a third-place finish, with some early trouble, behind Gaudreau in an Aug. 8 maiden at Saratoga. Gaudreau, trained by Chad Brown, will be one of U. S. S. Valor’s rivals in the Champagne, a one-turn mile race. The six-horse Champagne field includes debut winners Club Reign and Earth Song, the latter also cross-entered in the Rocky Run Stakes at Delaware. Raku, beaten a nose in the Sapling at Monmouth after a debut win, and Johnny Hockey, 1 for 6, round out the field.

Coach Pope, a son of Tapit trained by Kenny McPeek, finished in between Gaudreau and U. S. S. Valor in that Aug 8 race at Saratoga. He came back to win his maiden by 12 1/2 lengths going one mile at Churchill Downs and now heads a field of six entered in Saturday’s $650,000 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

Among his five rivals will be American History, a 7 3/4-length debut winner on Aug. 22 at Saratoga. American History, a son of Constitution, is trained by Todd Pletcher, who won his fifth BC Juvenile last year with Ted Noffey. Others entered in the Breeders’ Futurity include Phone Booth, runner-up to Hughes in both the Grade 3 Best Pal and Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity; Q B Rocket, an impressive Saratoga maiden winner; Title Worthy, 2 for 2 in sprints run over sloppy tracks; and Jaded, a debut winner on turf at Kentucky Downs.

Pletcher’s five Juvenile wins equal the number of his former boss, the late D. Wayne Lukas. Both trainers are tied for second behind Bob Baffert, with six.

Baffert already has the undefeated Salahudin, winner of the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes, in the Juvenile. Saturday, at Santa Anita, he’ll send out four of the six entered in the $300,000 American Pharoah at 1 1/16 miles. His quartet is led by the undefeated Hughes, who became Baffert’s 20th Del Mar Futurity winner. In the American Pharoah, Baffert also sends out impressive debut winner Imperial Honor; Emancipate, a second-out maiden winner; and Domus, a debut winner who finished a well-beaten fourth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.

Dang Son, third in the Del Mar Futurity, and Net Park, a California-bred stakes winner, complete the American Pharoah field.