Hovdey: Read requires talent that cuts both ways

It’s never too early for backers of American grass horses to be thinking about the Breeders’ Cup Mile. It wasn’t too early last year in the immediate wake of World Approval’s victory at Del Mar, when he became the sixth U.S. runner in the last seven years to win the race that the Europeans are supposed to own. Might as well plan ahead.

Mark Glatt was itching for a rematch this year at Churchill Downs after his Blackjackcat ran a cracking third at 19-1 for Al and Sandee Kirkwood, finishing less than 1 1/2 lengths behind World Approval. The race gave World Approval an Eclipse Award and validated Blackjackcat as California’s top-ranked miler in a traditionally deep field.

However, since Thoroughbreds are as unreliable as the weather, it will come as no surprise that neither 6-year-old World Approval nor 5-year-old Blackjackcat – both geldings – are currently part of the serious conversation for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, despite their proven class.

World Approval won his first race this year at Tampa Bay and then tossed in dull efforts at Santa Anita and Churchill Downs. Blackjackcat was similarly off form in his first two starts of the year at Santa Anita, and by June, Glatt had seen enough. For the past six weeks the horse has been at the Kirkwoods’ farm in Washington, recharging his batteries, while Mark Casse has World Approval in training at Saratoga, but that’s about all.

“He’s a happy camper here, acting like a 2-year-old,” Casse said Friday morning. “But of course I’m baffled. I haven’t really come up with a good explanation. We’ll keep going forward – maybe breeze him on the grass next week if weather permits – but we’re not ever going to run him just to run. He’s given us so much.”

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Casse and owner Charlotte Weber reserve the option of pulling the plug on 2018 and starting afresh next year.

“He only had a light freshening after last season, so maybe it’s time for a longer one,” Casse said. “There’s no pressure on us at all. And sometimes when there are no answers the best answer of all is good old Mother Nature.”

Given his brilliant performance over the Del Mar turf in the Breeders’ Cup, World Approval would have been a distinct possibility for the Grade 2 Eddie Read to be run there Sunday. At nine furlongs, the Read hits the sweet spot between ambitious milers and the more long-winded characters who have the dash to shorten up.

The variety of past Read winners attests to their versatility. Go West Young Man and Marquetry were just as adept on dirt. Kotashaan used the Read to launch the back half of his all-grass Horse of the Year campaign, while Eclipse champ Acclamation won back-to-back Reads to go with his Polytrack triumph in the Pacific Classic.

Sunday’s field attracted just such an eclectic group, featuring Itsinthepost, Hunt, Flamboyant, and – what’s this? – another live one from the deep Glatt barn, entering the fray at just the right moment.

Sharp Samurai, a 4-year-old son of First Samurai owned by Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, will be making his stakes debut against older, more experienced competition. Not that Glatt’s gelding needs an introduction. He was the 3-year-old star of last summer, winning both the La Jolla Stakes and the Del Mar Derby.

In fact, Sharp Samurai was the most thoroughly tested 3-year-old on the West Coast turf last year. He was the only member of his class to contest all four graded stakes for the division during the second half of 2017, and he won three of them, adding the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita to his Del Mar swag. In his final start, Sharp Samurai finished a game fourth in the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, beaten a length by victorious Mo Town.

After giving Sharp Samurai a well-earned rest, Glatt brought his horse back in June with a thoroughly professional score in an allowance mile over stakes-winner Catapult, who returns in the Read as well. Gary Stevens, celebrating his one-year anniversary as Sharp Samurai’s steady companion, was suitably impressed.

“He’s a serious son of a bitch,” Stevens said, lowering his voice like he does when a horse has become something special. “And he didn’t need to get a whole lot better, the way he ran last year.”

The Read will provide Sharp Samurai with the test he needs to determine the immediate future. Hunt, a 6-year-old gelded son of Dark Angel, won the race last year plus two other graded stakes, then returned in May to win a thriller over Heart to Heart in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita. Itsinthepost, who never puts a foot wrong, will be going for his fifth stakes win of 2018. And Bowies Hero pestered Sharp Samurai whenever they met as 3-year-olds before becoming a Grade 1 stakes winner this year in the Kilroe Mile.

None of that seems to discourage Stevens, who has an abiding faith that Sharp Samurai will be right there Sunday.

“The time off did him a world of good,” Stevens said. “And there will be a few ways Mark can go with him after the Read. But if I’m right, he’s the kind of horse you need to take seriously for the Breeders’ Cup Mile.”