Breeders' Cup Sprint: Jackie's Warrior favored to end career with a bang
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jackie’s Warrior has a résumé befitting his superstar status – with one notable exception. He’s never won a Breeders’ Cup race.
On Saturday at Keeneland, Jackie’s Warrior will be heavily favored to rectify that situation when he faces 10 rivals in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The competition includes defending BC Sprint champion Aloha West and the dangerous Kimari, the only filly in the field.
Jackie’s Warrior, who finished sixth, 4 1/2 lengths behind Aloha West, as the 1-2 favorite in the 2021 Sprint at Del Mar, will close out his brilliant career Saturday. He comes into the race having won 4 of 5 starts during his 4-year-old campaign, including Grade 1 victories in the Churchill Downs Stakes and Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. In the Vanderbilt, he became the first horse to win a Grade 1 race three consecutive years at Saratoga. He suffered his lone setback this season in his most recent start, when he was run down late by Cody’s Wish following a prolonged pace duel in the seven-furlong Forego. Yet, Jackie’s Warrior received a 109 Beyer Speed Figure, just a point shy of his career best.
Jackie’s Warrior has made only one start at Keeneland, finishing a tiring fourth in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Despite the loss in the BC Sprint last year, Jackie’s Warrior won the Eclipse Award as the 2021 champion sprinter.
“It would be wonderful to cap off his career with a win in this race,” said Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who speaks in almost reverent tones whenever asked to talk about Jackie’s Warrior. “What a special horse he’s been to us – last year’s sprint champion and the only horse to ever win a Grade 1 three years in a row at Saratoga. That being said, he’s 0 for 2 in the Breeders’ Cup. His two Breeders’ Cup defeats are hard to imagine having been around him his whole career. He’s too good of a horse not to win a Breeders’ Cup, and it would be extremely rewarding if he could cap off his career with a win in the Sprint.”
Jackie’s Warrior’s best asset has always been his abundant speed, and he projects to set the pace in the six-furlong Sprint. His chances of getting an easy lead were enhanced earlier this week when it was announced Jack Christopher would not be entered. Jackie’s Warrior will break from post 9 on Saturday with regular rider Joel Rosario aboard.
Aloha West rallied off the contested pace to post a heart-stopping nose victory over Dr. Schivel in the 2021 Sprint. Aloha West has been playing catch-up just to make the race this year, having been idle since winning the Kelly’s Landing on July 2 at Churchill Downs. Trainer Wayne Catalano was uncertain whether he’d make the Breeders’ Cup as recently as pre-entry day. Catalano has gotten five works under Aloha West’s belt over the past month, including a bullet half-mile in 47.26 seconds here Monday.
“I think we’re like 90 percent, but he really only has to run the last three-eighths of a mile,” Catalano said. “That’s what he does.”
Catalano also will run Manny Wah, who finished a troubled fifth in this event here two years ago. Manny Wah won a berth into the field by virtue of his last-to-first victory in the Phoenix here one month ago.
“Manny Wah is training unbelievable,” Catalano said. “He loves the track. I think he could have won the Sprint here two years ago if he didn’t get stopped, and he’s not going to surprise me if everything goes his way if he wins this race.”
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Trainer Wesley Ward had the option of running Kimari in the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, and she may have gone postward the favorite off her last two efforts, well-graded victories in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss and most recently the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Aqueduct. Ward’s decision to try males in the Sprint was based primarily on the distance of the race.
“I just think six furlongs is her distance rather than seven, and she’s never been better right now,” Ward said shortly before the post position draw Monday. “She’s been plagued with issues throughout her career and right now she’s breathing fire. I think her numbers stack up with anyone in there, and this is her home track. As good as she’s doing right now, if they ran the race today I’d have supreme confidence.”
Trainer Bill Mott defeated Jackie’s Warrior with Cody’s Wish in the Forego, and he’ll try to do it again Saturday with the 4-year-old Elite Power. Elite Power has gotten better with every outing this season, having won his last four starts by a combined margin of 21 1/2 lengths, including the Vosburgh going seven furlongs Oct. 8 at Aqueduct with a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s a late developer,” Mott said. “He had [sore] shins as a 3-year-old, so we gave him time. He won his last race easily enough. It wasn’t such a hard race on him, so hopefully he’ll still have a little gas in the tank for this one. It’s a sprint, so it’s going to be about the pace and the trip.”
C Z Rocket, the old man in the lineup at the age of 8, will make his third consecutive start in the Sprint, having finished second behind Whitmore here in 2020 and a slow-starting seventh behind Aloha West last year.
American Theorem won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar in July in only his second start at six furlongs and has been freshened by trainer George Papaprodromou since finishing second behind Laurel River in the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien on Aug. 27.
O Besos, Super Ocho, Willy Boi, and Flash of Mischief complete the field.
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