Parading must earn his way to the Classic

ARCADIA, Calif. - It will take a win in Saturday's $350,000 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita to keep Parading in California beyond this weekend.

Trainer Shug McGaughey has started Parading twice in California this year - a fifth in the Hollywood Gold Cup as the favorite and a fourth in the Pacific Classic - and does not intend to stick around for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic here on Nov. 7 if the 6-year-old does not win on Saturday.

"I'm not thinking about the Breeders' Cup yet," McGaughey said. "We'll see how he runs in the Goodwood. The Classic will come up a solid race, just like it did last year. I'd want to go in there with a positive attitude."

The Goodwood is one of four major stakes on Saturday's 10-race program at Santa Anita.

Zenyatta, the unbeaten champion older female of 2008, will attempt to defend her title in the $300,000 Lady's Secret Stakes against seven rivals.

The winner of 12 races, Zenyatta faces a tough field of familiar rivals, including Cocoa Beach, second to Zenyatta in the 2008 BC Ladies' Classic; Life Is Sweet, who was second to Zenyatta in two graded stakes at Hollywood Park earlier this year; and Anabaa's Creation, who lost by a head to Zenyatta in the Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar in early August.

Magical Fantasy will attempt to win her fourth consecutive graded stakes in the $300,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on turf for fillies and mares. Cowboy Cal and Whatsthescript are the leading contenders in the $150,000 Oak Tree Mile on turf.

All four stakes are part of the Breeders' Cup's Win and You're In program, giving the winners automatic berths to the respective Breeders' Cup races for their divisions, contingent on the payment of entry fees.

The Goodwood should be a strong race, with nine stakes winners in a field of 10, including five Grade 1 winners. The race marks the first start against older horses for Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, unraced since finishing third in the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park on Aug. 1.

Trainer Bob Baffert waited until Wednesday morning before giving the mount on Richard's Kid to Alex Solis. Mike Smith, who rode Richard's Kid in the Pacific Classic, has committed to Tiago, the winner of the 2007 Goodwood.

Parading was beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Richard's Kid in the Pacific Classic after fighting for the lead in the stretch. McGaughey shipped Parading back to New York after the Hollywood Gold Cup and trained him at Saratoga. The only disruption was a missed workout, which McGaughey fears cost Parading in the Pacific Classic.

"He got beat less than two lengths," McGaughey said. "I thought he ran well. He was wide the whole way. If we'd saved some ground, he could have been right there, but that's hard to do. Maybe missing a work hurt, too."

Owned by Phipps Stable, Parading has won 7 of 19 starts and $479,046.

"I think we'll get to see the real Parading and see if he measures up to those kind of horses," McGaughey said.