Breeders' Cup Sprint: Plenty of speed to set up late runners
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The East Coast-West Coast rivalry will be evident throughout this Breeders’ Cup weekend at Keeneland, no more so than in the $1.5 million Sprint, which features several top contenders from both camps.
While Easterners extol the virtues of Private Zone and Runhappy, who likely will vie for favoritism among the full field of 14 speedsters in the six-furlong Sprint, their West Coast counterparts can brag about their strong contingent, which includes Wild Dude, Masochistic, Kobe’s Back, and Big Macher.
“I think there is a natural rivalry, albeit a friendly one, between the two coasts,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, who trains Wild Dude. “Everybody wants to think their side is the best, and I’m from the West, so naturally I’d like to believe our horses are better. But they are loaded up with very good horses too, so it should be interesting.”
Wild Dude won two of the six Breeders’ Cup Challenge races for the Sprint, the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, rallying from off a lively pace on both occasions. And he figures to get a similar setup in the Sprint.
“It looks like most of the speed is in the outside, and we’re in the middle, so we should be able to get a good setup,” said Hollendorfer. “But even if there’s a fast pace and it suits your horse who wants to come from behind, you still have to get through all the traffic.”
Private Zone might go postward a slight choice over the younger and less-experienced Runhappy by virtue of his four Grade 1 victories, including an impressive 3 3/4-length triumph in the seven-furlong Forego at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
Private Zone, whose only setback in his last four starts came at the hands of Breeders’ Cup Classic contenders Honor Code and Tonalist in the Met Mile, has not started at six furlongs since finishing third, beaten less than two lengths by Work All Week, in the 2014 Sprint.
“We got lucky No. 13 for the post,” said trainer Jorge Navarro. “I wanted to be outside but not quite that far outside, although that means he won’t have to wait as long in the gate, so he should come out running. Things haven’t been going our way. We had to change our work in 25 minutes the other day, and I would have liked to have seen a faster work. But I still think we’re going in with the best horse, and that’s all you can ask in a race like this.”
Runhappy exploded onto the national scene at Saratoga with his four-length victory in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop on Aug. 29. His final time for seven furlongs was 0.55 seconds faster than Private Zone covered the same distance later that day. Runhappy earned a free ride into the Sprint by virtue of his 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland earlier this month. If the freakishly fast 3-year-old, who worked six furlongs in 1:09.60 here last week, has an Achilles’ heel, it’s his inability to break running from the gate.
“He broke from the rail for the first time in the Phoenix, and I think he knew he had to watch his step a little coming out of the inside,” said trainer Maria Borell. “So, hopefully he’ll be fine breaking from post 5 on Saturday. And I think he has an advantage racing at Keeneland, which is really his home track. He’s definitely gotten better with every start this year, the improvement coming with experience and maturity, and he’s just so talented. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet.”
Private Zone and Runhappy both figure to assure a lively pace in the Sprint, along with Masochistic, who was victimized by an extended pace duel when finishing fourth in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship.
Limousine Liberal, who was clearly second-best behind Runhappy in the King’s Bishop, is also based at Keeneland and has trained extremely well over his home track in preparation for this race. He too figures to be forwardly placed, as does Favorite Tale, who captured the Win and You’re In Smile Sprint this summer at Gulfstream Park and is drawn on the extreme outside, just to the right of Private Zone, in post No. 14.
Kobe’s Back rallied from last to finish second behind Wild Dude in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and should relish a similarly hot pace, as would the David Jacobson-trained duo of Salutos Amigos and Stallwalkin’ Dude, second and third behind the ill-fated Rock Fall in the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont on Sept. 26.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 10 Salutos Amigos. Trainer David Jacobson is 20-6-3-4 with a $3.20 ROI over the past five years when making a jockey change in graded sprint stakes on dirt. – Mike Hogan
Big Macher proved that he too could rate and finish when overcoming an unlucky start to rally from last to a popular win against statebred company in his final Breeders’ Cup prep.