Cyberknife's next start likely Travers Stakes, Cox says

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Three men have won the last seven Eclipse awards as the outstanding trainer in North America, and three horses they train lined up across the Monmouth Park racing oval at the sixteenth pole of the $1 million Haskell Stakes on Saturday.

It was the horse on the rail, Cyberknife, who came out on top – barely. Trained by Brad Cox, who has won two straight Eclipse Awards, Cyberknife benefitted from his own adept actions and an excellent ride from Florent Geroux to best Taiba by a head.

Taiba, trained by four-time Eclipse-winning trainer Bob Baffert, was undone by his own greenness, turning in a performance at least the equal of the winner’s while coming up just short.

Jack Christopher, between horses and clinging to the lead at the sixteenth pole, was no match for the top two from there to the wire and finished third, beaten two lengths. Trained by four-time Eclipse-winner Chad Brown, Jack Christopher was the 7-10 favorite in the Haskell, which marked his first defeat after four wins, including two Grade 1s, to start his career.

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Cyberknife and Jack Christopher already have left Monmouth and have joined their respective trainers’ strings at Saratoga. Taiba flies back to California on Tuesday.

Cyberknife clocked a track-record 1:46.24 for 1 1/8 miles, a time substantially aided by an extremely fast-playing Monmouth racing surface. A little more than two hours earlier, Highly Motivated in the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes had broken Spend a Buck’s 37-year-old track record by a little less than a half-second. Cyberknife got a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure, besting his previous top from the Matt Winn Stakes last month, by eight points. Cyberknife’s win in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby yielded just a 92 Beyer.

“He arrived here late this morning,” Cox said, reached by phone at Saratoga. “His energy level looked really good. He seems to have bounced out of it in good order.” If all goes well, Cox said, Cyberknife likely will make his next start Aug. 27 in the $1,250,000 Travers Stakes. “It’s five weeks between races. As long as he settles in well here, I think so.”

Cyberknife in his early starts tended to race erratically, but in the Haskell he turned in a thoroughly professional performance. Geroux had horse underneath him the entire trip and kept Cyberknife along the rail down the backstretch, slipping into the space Taiba had occupied when that colt was taken outside past the five-furlong marker. Cyberknife rallied willingly up the rail in the homestretch, finishing slightly better than Taiba.

Jockey Mike Smith had no choice but to vacate the rail with Taiba when his mount, uncomfortable racing behind and inside rivals, came off the bridle and threatened to fall out of contention before the half-mile pole. Taiba was making just the fourth start of his career, and in winning his maiden and the Santa Anita Derby this spring, he never was in a tough spot like Saturday’s. Once Smith got Taiba outside, the colt kicked back into gear and, despite racing wide as Cyberknife hugged the fence, he nearly won.

“Experience got him,” Baffert said Sunday. “Mike did as good as he could. The horse wasn’t running when he was in behind there. It wasn’t the ride that got him beat.”

Baffert called Taiba “a difficult horse to train,” citing his laid-back attitude during morning exercise. Taiba still acts like a playful teenager and can be disengaged from tasks set before him. “There’s a lot of quality there. He comes alive when he gets on that track,” Baffert said.

There are no immediate race plans for Taiba. Baffert is suspended by the New York Racing Association, so the Travers is out of the question. “The Breeders’ Cup Classic is the main thing,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with him yet.”

Jack Christopher didn’t exactly fail in his two-turn debut; had the Haskell been 1 1/16 miles rather than 1 1/8 miles, he might have won. Brown pointed to a 22.97-second third quarter-mile as Jack Christopher’s possible undoing. Brown also is aiming Jack Christopher to a Grade 1 race on Aug. 27 at Saratoga – just not the Travers. Jack Christopher will cut back to seven furlongs, Brown said, and start in the Allen Jerkens Stakes.

“I thought the two horses that finished ahead of him really ran well and were just better yesterday,” Brown said.

They did run really well. Taiba finished 12th in the Kentucky Derby, Cyberknife was 18th, but both colts seem poised for a strong run through the second half of the year. Derby winner Rich Strike has a long way to go to validate his massive upset in that race. Derby runner-up Epicenter came back with a game, creditable second-place finish in the Preakness and next weekend faces the colt who beat him there, Early Voting, in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga. Zandon, third in the Derby, also will be in that race, as will Tawny Port, another Cox-trained 3-year-old. The race for divisional honors remains wide open, though Cox has an opinion.

“I look around and I kind of like Cyberknife,” he said.

-- additional reporting by David Grening