When it has come to the Breeders’ Cup, Luis Saez has been a non-factor. Not only is he winless with 22 career mounts – only four of whom have been under 10-1 odds – he has only ridden 10 horses combined in the event the last four years. This year, Saez should very much be a factor in the Breeders’ Cup. Not only will he ride 13 of the 14 BC races Friday and Saturday at Keeneland, he will be aboard a number of top contenders, many of whom figure to be prominent early in their races. The roster includes Essential Quality (Juvenile), Simply Ravishing (Juvenile Fillies), and Mutasaabeq (Juvenile Turf) on Friday; Serengeti Empress (Filly and Mare Sprint), Mean Mary (Filly and Mare Turf), C Z Rocket (Sprint), Leinster (Turf Sprint), and Maximum Security (Classic) on Saturday. Any Breeders’ Cup success would be meaningful to Saez, but winning the Classic on Maximum Security “would mean the world to us,” he said. Saez, 28, has ridden the roller coaster with Maximum Security. From winning the Florida Derby the first time he sat on him, to getting disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby, to winning the $20 million Saudi Cup, to watching someone else ride him to victory twice this summer, it has been quite a ride. Saez said he has moved on from the Derby disqualification though he still thinks it was the actions of War of Will who came up from behind him that started the chain of events that caused Maximum Security to veer out at the five-sixteenths pole and interfere with other horses. Maximum Security was disqualified to 17th. “If War of Will does not run up behind him nothing is going to happen,” Saez said. “I know that’s why he came out and made it look so bad. It was a bad thing that happened to us; it’s all right, it’s okay.” :: Play the Breeders’ Cup with DRF! Visit our Breeders’ Cup shop for Packages, PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more Due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Saez did contract the virus in July – Saez was not able to travel to ride Maximum Security when he ran and won the San Diego and Pacific Classic at Del Mar for new trainer Bob Baffert. Saez did have a role in the horse’s success in the San Diego, as he spoke with both Baffert and jockey Abel Cedillo prior to that race. “When Abel rode him the first time they asked me for some tips about him, I talked to Abel and I talked to Bob and everything came out pretty well,” Saez said. It was always the plan that Saez would get back on him if possible. He was able to ride him in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita, where Maximum Security finished second to Improbable. “He broke from there and he felt like he was not comfortable, maybe he didn’t like the track, that’s what I feel,” Saez said. “All the way he was a little bit intimidated.” In subsequent training, though, Maximum Security has started to turn around. That’s why Saez says, “I’m so excited for him. I know he’s going to show up.” Saez is excited about plenty of his other mounts. Chief among them is Essential Quality, whom Saez rode to a 3 1/4-length victory in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 3. “He’s a running machine,” Saez said. “When he broke from there, I felt how powerful he was and when I came to the stretch I had so much horse that when he passed the wire I couldn’t stop him.” Also Friday, Saez rides Simply Ravishing, with whom he is 3 for 3, including a 6 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at the track and distance of the Juvenile Fillies. “Every race she’s been running she’s getting better and better,” Saez said. “Last time was so easy for her, she was just galloping.” The first weekend in October proved to be fruitful for Saez. Ironically, he went to Keeneland primarily to ride Halladay in the Shadwell Turf Mile. That horse scratched with an infection. In addition to winning aboard Essential Quality and Simply Ravishing, that weekend he won graded stakes on Leinster, Mutasaabeq, and Valiance, all horses he will be riding Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup. The last time Saez rode Serengeti Empress, he won the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga. He will be back aboard for the Filly and Mare Sprint. Saez said he remembers before the Ballerina trainer Tom Amoss telling him, “Let her fly from there and she’s going to keep going, and that’s what she did.” When Saez was in California to ride Maximum Security in the Awesome Again, he picked up the mount on C Z Rocket in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. Though he won that race by just a head, Saez said he left something in the tank for the Breeders’ Cup. “That day when I rode him at Santa Anita I rode him with so much confidence I know how much horse I got,” Saez said. “When he put his head in front I knew we were going to be all right, I was treating him pretty easy that day. He’s going to be okay.” Saez first rode Mean Mary last December in Florida and won four straight races on her before she was beaten a neck by Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Diana. Saez felt his filly had a good excuse in defeat. “I felt like the track was pretty bad and I was in a bad spot on the rail,” Saez said. “At the three-eighths, she slipped a little bit and that cost me because the winner got on top of me. She’s a special, special filly, she’s a good filly. I can’t wait to ride her in the Breeders’ Cup.” Mean Mary is trained by Graham Motion, who hasn’t used Saez often. “I have tremendous admiration for him as a rider,” Motion said. “He’s not somebody I use a lot because I think he’s quite an aggressive rider, which doesn’t necessarily suit all my horses, but he’s got so much confidence in this filly. I know how much he thinks of her.” Earlier this year, Saez had to make an agent switch when Richard DePass, his agent for eight years, decided to retire. DePass recommended Kiaran McLaughlin, who opted to retire from training in March to take Saez’s book. “He’s a better rider than I ever knew he was watching him ride 10 a day,” McLaughlin said. “He’s a great rider, great kid, never complains, and always willing to do what he needs to do. A real pleasure to work with.” DePass believes McLaughlin played a large role in Saez having such a strong hand in the Breeders’ Cup. “Kiaran’s done a world of good for his business,” DePass said. “Kiaran put him in a lot of better spots because of his connections.” The winner’s circle, following a Breeders’ Cup race, is the spot Saez hopes to be in this weekend.