Game Winner lives up to his name in Breeders' Cup Juvenile

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Though trainer Bob Baffert came to Kentucky with major contenders in the $6 million Classic and $2 million Distaff, it was Game Winner – the 2-year-old colt brought for the $2 million Juvenile – he thought was his best chance to win a Breeders’ Cup race this weekend.

“People would ask me who my best chance is,” Baffert said. “I’d say him.”

Despite a difficult trip, Game Winner delivered a championship performance, bumping with, then running by, Knicks Go to win the Juvenile by 2 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs. It was a length back to Signalman, a 67-1 shot, in third.

The win was the fourth in as many starts for Game Winner, a son of Candy Ride owned by Gary and Mary West. It was his third Grade 1 victory, along with the Del Mar Futurity and American Pharoah and should cement an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.

The win also likely makes Game Winner the winterbook favorite for next year’s Kentucky Derby, a race Baffert has already won five times including this year with Justify, who became the 13th Triple Crown winner.

“We got a little ways to go, but he looked pretty good there,” said Baffert, when asked if he was ready to pick up where Justify left off.

The win gave Baffert his fourth in the Juvenile and his 15th victory overall in the Breeders’ Cup. He and the Wests won the Juvenile in 2013 with New Year’s Day.

“I felt more pressure because I told Gary I don’t think they can beat us,” Baffert said about Game Winner. “But we got to get around there. I’m so happy for them; they put a lot into the game.”

As confident as Baffert was in Game Winner, the colt did not have the easiest trip under Joel Rosario. After breaking a step slow, he was three-to-four-wide entering the first turn and remained three wide down the backstretch while racing in sixth position.

Meanwhile, Complexity, the Champagne winner, was loose on the lead under Irad Ortiz Jr. through a half-mile in 46.87 seconds, followed by Knicks Go, the longshot winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

At the five-sixteenths pole, Knicks Go, sent off at 40-1, moved past Complexity, who began to show his distance limitations. But Game Winner, who launched his move entering the far turn, was on the march.

Turning for home, Knicks Go was in front but Game Winner was looming. Albin Jimenez moved Knicks Go out a path to try and make him see Game Winner. The pair bumped, but that didn’t deter Game Winner, who was straightened out by Rosario and pulled away in the final sixteenth.

“I could see the horse on the inside come out a little bit, at that point I had to grab him a little bit and let it happen and then ride him again,” Rosario said. “He was fine with that.”

Game Winner covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.67 – 05. slower than Jaywalk’s final time winning the Juvenile Fillies – and returned $4 as the even-money favorite. He is the first favorite to win this race since Shanghai Bobby in 2012.

“I felt a lot of pressure coming in here because I was really looking forward to this colt, I know he’s a really good horse,” Baffert said. “He had to show it today that he’s much the best.”

Ben Colebrook, the trainer of Knicks Go, said his his horse got the trip he was looking for and was simply second-best.

“He ran his eyeballs out, the pace was hot, but he was always going well within himself,” Colebrook said. “It was just like we drew it up; just follow [Complexity] around there and hope to get first run on [Game Winner], and we did. But he’s just too good.”

Signalman rallied from 12th to be third, 6 1/4 lengths in front of Mr. Money. Gunmetal Gray was fifth followed by Dueling, Mind Control, Topper T, Tight Ten, Complexity, Derby Date, Well Defined, and Standard Deviation.

Code of Honor was scratched the morning of the race due to a temperature.

None of Baffert’s Juvenile winners turned out to be classic winners. Vindication (2002) and New Year’s Day (2013) never raced again after their Juvenile victories. Midshipman (2008) didn’t make the following spring classics and was ultimately transferred to Saeed bin Suroor.

Still, Baffert said he wanted this race more than even Saturday’s Classic – where he runs West Coast and McKinzie – or the Distaff – where he runs Abel Tasman and Vale Dori.

“Of the Breeders’ Cup races, this is the one I really wanted,” said Baffert, who also won the Street Sense Stakes for 2-year-olds with Improbable. “There’s nothing like having a 2-year-old and you’re thinking spring classics and everything else. Gary’s program is all about young horses.”