Maxfield will bypass Breeders' Cup Classic and be pointed to Clark
The highly accomplished Maxfield, second most recently in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park, will bypass the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar and instead await the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs on Nov. 26, trainer Brendan Walsh said Tuesday.
Maxfield was bred and is owned by Godolphin Racing, which has the champion colt Essential Quality, winner this year of the Travers and Belmont Stakes, pointing to the Classic.
Maxfield has won all four of his starts at Churchill Downs, including the Grade 2 Stephen Foster earlier this year. Maxfield, 4, owns a Grade 1 win from when he was a 2-year-old, in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
“He has such a good record at Churchill. We’re going to skip California with him altogether,” Walsh said. “It’s very important for him to win a Grade 1 this year. This probably gives him his best chance to get a Grade 1 at this stage of his career.”
The Clark is at 1 1/8 miles, the same distance as the Stephen Foster. Maxfield was third in his lone try at the Classic’s distance of 1 1/4 miles, in the Santa Anita Handicap in March, but he was running in that race on just three weeks’ rest while having to ship.
In addition to the Woodward, Maxfield was second in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga earlier this year. He has never finished out of the money in 10 starts, with seven victories, five in graded stakes.
His defection from the Classic means that jockey Jose Ortiz is currently without a mount for the race.