Improbable, Vexatious ponder road to Breeders' Cup

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The victors - Improbable and Vexatious - and the vanquished - Tom’s d’Etat and Midnight Bisou - from Saturday’s Grade 1 fixtures at Saratoga all hope to end up in the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. How they get there is yet to be determined in part due to the lack of a set fall schedule for any of the major racing circuits.

Improbable, who punched his ticket to the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic with a victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Stakes, was to be flown back to Del Mar and trainer Bob Baffert’s Southern California stable on Monday. While the Classic is the goal, it remains to be determined what path he uses to get there.

Baffert would like to keep him and Maximum Security apart, which means Improbable will not have the Pacific Classic on Aug. 22 at Del Mar on his agenda. Races such as the Awesome Again at Santa Anita, the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont, or the Fayette at Keeneland would seem to be the choices. No dates for those races have been set.

Improbable, who earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure for his Whitney win, is 2 for 3 at Santa Anita including a victory in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup there in June.

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Baffert said he would discuss plans with Elliott Walden, president of WinStar Farm, which owns Improbable in partnership with China Horse Club and SF Racing.

"Elliott and I talk about it,” Baffert said. “Being a former trainer, he thinks like a trainer. If he has an idea that sounds good we talk about it."

On Monday, Walden said the Awesome Again might make the most sense so that Improbable won't have to ship again until the Breeders' Cup.

Tom’s d’Etat stumbled at the break of the Whitney and finished third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Improbable. The loss ended a four-race winning streak for Tom’s d’Etat that included a defeat of Improbable in the Oaklawn Mile in April and a dominant score over By My Standards - the Whitney runner-up - in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs in June.

Trainer Al Stall said Sunday morning “there literally wasn’t a scratch on,” Tom’s d’Etat, and called the stumble “unfortunate. He’s an excellent gate horse. He got distracted somewhat, I guess. Who knows what happened? He just didn’t break properly.”

Stall said Tom’s d’Etat would not run back in the Grade 1 Woodward here Sept. 5. His options are likely the Fayette at Keeneland, or the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. Stall also mentioned the possibility of training into the Breeders’ Cup.

“He runs great fresh,” Stall said. “Everything’s open right now.”

By My Standards was headed back to Kentucky on Monday and trainer Bret Calhoun will map out a plan to get to the Breeders’ Cup. On Saturday, he mentioned the Grade 2, $400,000 Alysheba, a 1 1/16 mile race at Churchill Downs on Sept. 4, as a possibility.

Meanwhile, Vexatious earned an automatic berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 7 by upsetting reigning older female dirt champion Midnight Bisou by a neck in the Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign. She withstood a stewards’ inquiry and jockey’s objections to retain the victory, her first Grade 1 stakes success and first for trainer Jack Sisterson.

Sisterson said Vexatious does so well in Saratoga that he plans to leave her here to train while he plots out her path to the Breeders’ Cup. Sisterson said Vexatious has run twice in three weeks, so while he’s in no hurry to run her back, he added that he will let the 6-year-old mare tell him when she’s ready to run again.

“We’ll keep a close eye on her and she’ll tell us when she’s ready to run again,” Sisterson said. “Long-term goal is the Breeders’ Cup, but we won’t count anything out for her between now and then. Vexatious likes to train and run, so I won’t take any of that away from her. We’ll allow her to do what makes her happy.”

Vexatious, a daughter of Giant’s Causeway owned by Calumet Stable, earned a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure for her Personal Ensign victory.

Midnight Bisou, who was sent off the 1-5 favorite in the Personal Ensign, came out of the race in good order, according to Jeffrey Bloom, managing partner of Bloom Racing, which owns the 5-year-old mare in partnership with Madaket Stables and Allen Racing.

Bloom said Midnight Bisou would run once more before the Breeders’ Cup, most likely in either the Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont or the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland. Midnight Bisou is 3 for 3 at Belmont, including a victory in last year’s Beldame, while she has yet to run at Keeneland.

“The Beldame seems like a logical step,” Bloom said. “She loves it there. Then again, if you go back to Kentucky, you’re there already so that might weigh into it as well.

“She came out of the race in great shape and we’re just as excited as before it,” Bloom added. “She ran a huge race. The winner ran a really big race.”

- additional reporting by Jay Privman