Breeders' Cup Sprint: Three key qualifying races next month

With 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Runhappy being pointed toward the Dirt Mile and 2015 Sprint runner-up Private Zone on the shelf for the remainder of the season, this year’s BC Sprint figures to be a wide-open affair, with the field not likely to be set until the last of the six BC Challenge races in the division is decided Oct. 8.

Three spots in the lineup have already been secured, with Lord Nelson, A. P. Indian, and Delta Bluesman having earned Win and You’re In victories in the Bing Crosby, Forego, and Smile Sprint. Three more guaranteed slots are up for grabs in the Vosburgh (Oct. 1), Phoenix (Oct. 7), and Santa Anita Sprint Championship (Oct. 8).

Trainers Bob Baffert and Jorge Navarro have multiple candidates for the six-furlong Sprint. Baffert has Lord Nelson, a two-time Grade 1 winner this year, and the 3-year-old Drefong, who captured the Grade 1 King’s Bishop in impressive fashion this summer at Saratoga. Navarro is expected to counter with Delta Bluesman, X Y Jet, and perhaps Catalina Red.

X Y Jet may be the most intriguing Sprint hopeful. The son of Kantharos ran off a five-race winning streak that included one-sided victories this year in the Sunshine Millions Sprint and Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint before shipping to Dubai, where he narrowly missed capturing the rich Golden Shaheen. He went to the sidelines shortly thereafter with a chip in a knee, but Navarro has him set to make his highly anticipated return at Belmont Park in the Vosburgh.

“They made a race for us this week at Monmouth Park, but after talking it over with the owners, we decided to run in the Vosburgh because we felt he’ll get a lot more out of the race moving forward to the Breeders’ Cup,” said Navarro. “I’ve had him for two years now. He’s always been a horse with issues, but this is the cleanest I’ve ever seen him and the best he’s ever trained.”

Navarro said X Y Jet will ship to Belmont this week to work over the track ahead of the Vosburgh.

Delta Bluesman has won five of his last six starts, including the Grade 2 Smile Sprint, with his lone setback during that span being a fourth-place finish at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt, won by A. P. Indian. Delta Bluesman rallied to a popular one-length victory in the Hall of Fame Stakes last weekend at Parx in what Navarro said would be his final Breeders’ Cup prep.

Catalina Red is winless in three starts since upsetting the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes in May. He did finish third in the Vanderbilt and fifth in the Grade 1 Forego this summer at Saratoga.

“Post position has been killing us,” Navarro said, referring to having drawn posts 1 and 2 in the Forego and Vanderbilt. “This horse doesn’t want any part of the inside. He’ll run next in either the Vosburgh or Ack Ack, and we’ll decide from there regarding the Breeders’ Cup.”

X Y Jet is likely to face a stern test in the Vosburgh against a field that is also likely to include A. P. Indian. Trainer Arnaud Delacour said he’s pleased with the way A. P. Indian bounced out of his victory in the Forego, and if all continues to go well, the East Coast’s top-rated sprinter will seek his third straight Grade 1 win in New York in the Vosburgh.

“He had a good maintenance breeze last weekend, he’ll have one more breeze next Sunday, and he appears to be doing as well coming up to the Vosburgh as he did the Forego,” said Delacour. “He’s been terrific for us all summer, and hopefully we’ll have a nice fall with him, too.”

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