Breeders' Cup Sprint: West Coast loaded to end win drought
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It’s been six years since a West Coast-based horse won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint, when Roy H went back-to-back to capture the event in 2017 and 2018 for trainer Peter Miller.
But that somewhat surprising drought could well end come Nov. 2 at Del Mar with the strength of this year’s sprint division concentrated on the Southern California circuit. Six of the top 10 horses on Daily Racing Form’s first list of BC Sprint contenders are currently stabled at Santa Anita, a group led by The Chosen Vron, Prince of Monaco, Straight No Chaser, and Raging Torrent.
Elite Power gave the East Coast bragging rights to the title of world’s fastest horse by winning the last two renewals of the Sprint for trainer Bill Mott. Prior to that, the three previous winners were all based in the Midwest, Kentucky to be more specific – Aloha West in 2021, Whitmore in 2020, and Mitole in 2019.
The East Coast is bereft of a serious contender this season, with the three most important races in the division decided in New York over the past several months – the Forego, Vanderbilt, and Vosburgh – won respectively by Mullikin, Nakatomi, and Mufasa, all of whom are currently stabled at Keeneland.
The prospective starting lineup for the Sprint could be the strongest and most competitive to contest the six-furlong dash in a long while. Six members of DRF’s top 10 list, The Chosen Vron, Nakatomi, Mullikin, Prince of Monaco, Straight No Chaser, and Raging Torrent, have posted Beyer Speed Figures of 104 or 105 in their last starts. Skelly, currently the lukewarm 7-2 favorite on Brad Free’s early projected morning line for the race, also owns a 105 Beyer this season for his victory in Oaklawn Park’s Count Fleet Stakes in his 2024 debut.
Trainer Doug O’Neill won the Sprint in 2006 with Thor’s Echo and will look to do it again next month when sending out his red-hot 3-year-old Raging Torrent and veteran Anarchist. Raging Torrent has won his last three starts, including the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien on Aug. 24 at Del Mar. Anarchist proved a popular winner of that same event one year earlier but has gone winless in three subsequent tries, including a third-place finish behind the Japanese-based pair of Remake and Jasper Krone in the Group 3 Korea Sprint on Sept. 8 in Seoul.
“We always thought Raging Torrent was a special horse, and he’s shown that since we got him back at one turn,” O’Neill said. “Beating older horses last time was pretty nice, and obviously, he’s shown a love for that track.
“The same is true for Anarchist. We tried to kind of back door a Win and You’re In going to Korea last time. He ran hard, but the sandy, deeper track really wasn’t to the liking of a big, strong horse like him. He looked like 1-9 midway through the race, then struggled over it at the end.”
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