Breeders' Cup Sprint: Distinctiv Passion's absence alters pace scenario

The projected pace scenario for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint changed dramatically this week with the news that the speedy Distinctiv Passion will not start despite credentials that include his recent third-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

Distinctiv Passion, who has been in front at every call from the gate to the eighth pole in each of his last eight starts, certainly would have had a major impact on the Sprint. Even without Distinctiv Passion, the pace for the Sprint figures to be hot, with a lineup that could include Sum of the Parts, Private Zone, Fast Bullet, and last year’s winner, Trinniberg.

“Distinctiv Passion is not nominated for the Breeders’ Cup, and the owners have made the decision not to run him in the Sprint,” trainer Jeff Bonde said Tuesday.

But Bonde and Distinctiv Passion’s owners, the partnership of Edward Brown Jr., Alan Klein, and Phillip Lebherz, still will be represented in the Sprint by the lightly raced Majestic Stride.

“It’s kind of a funny situation,” Bonde said. “The same owners have a second horse, Majestic Stride, who they bought off the same breeder [Harold Plumley] as Distinctiv Passion, and he is eligible for the Breeders’ Cup, so we’re going to take a chance and run him instead.”

Majestic Stride won his maiden at second asking before finishing fifth in Oaklawn’s Grade 3 Southwest Stakes during the spring of his 3-year-old campaign. He did not race again for 18 months but has won both of his starts on the comeback trail, including a second-level allowance dash at Santa Anita earlier this month.

“He got very sick after the Southwest, nearly died, and it took a long time to restore him to health again,” Bonde said. “But he’s good now, likes Santa Anita, and is a fresh horse who might be catching some tired ones at the end of the year in this race. At least, that’s what we’re hoping.”

Trainer David Fawkes was lamenting the news that Distinctiv Passion would bypass the Sprint, as his Bahamian Squall does his best running from off the pace. Fawkes also was not happy about the shipping arrangements he had to make with Bahamian Squall, who earned a free trip to the Sprint by winning the Grade 2 Smile Sprint at Calder.

“They always had a Tex Sutton flight take all the Florida horses on the Monday before the Cup,” Fawkes said. “But this year, Tex Sutton does not have a plane out of here, so we all have to make our own arrangements with FedEx, and that’s forcing me to put him on a flight Sunday, one which lays over nearly five hours in Memphis, and which also forces me to work him a day earlier than I’d planned.”