Saratoga lover Cross Border rates a chance in stacked Sword Dancer
Four wins in 28 starts. Not a bad record, nothing special. That’s what Cross Border has done away from Saratoga.
Saratoga, though, is his turf. Six wins in seven starts over the last three seasons, the lone loss coming in last year’s Sword Dancer when second to Channel Maker.
Cross Border will be out to reverse that lone loss Saturday, when he steps onto his favorite course to face a small but stellar field, including fellow 7-year-old Channel Maker and European import Japan, in the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer.
The Sword Dancer offers a fees-paid berth to the winner to the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Both the Sword Dancer and the Breeders’ Cup Turf are at 1 1/2 miles.
The Sword Dancer, which drew seven runners, is race 11 on the 13-race card and immediately precedes the day’s headline event, the Runhappy Travers Stakes.
Cross Border had lost eight straight races over 11 months before capturing last month’s 1 3/8-mile Bowling Green for the second straight year, having inherited the victory last year on the disqualification of Sadler’s Joy.
“I wish I knew,” said his trainer, Mike Maker, when asked why Cross Border raises his game at Saratoga. “He’s the same old horse in his training. I can’t put my finger on it, honestly. Your guess is as good as mine. Soft turf, hard, it doesn’t matter.”
The ground figures to be much firmer for this year’s Sword Dancer than last year, when Channel Maker led throughout on a bottomless course, and Cross Border could not make an impact late. The course was good for the 1 3/8-mile Bowling Green, in which Cross Border held safe Sword Dancer rival Rockemperor to win by 1 1/4 lengths.
Cross Border starts from the outside post and figures to get his usual stalking trip in a race that should unfold with a legitimate pace for a 12-furlong grass race.
“I expect another big effort,” Maker said.
Channel Maker turned in his best efforts last summer and fall during his championship season when he was able to make the lead. That spot, though, figures to be occupied by Tribhuvan, who is simply a naturally faster animal and heads into this race having won twice in three starts this year for Chad Brown, most recently with a front-running tally in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth.
Flavien Prat, who rode him for the first time in the U.N., is back aboard.
Tribhuvan’s presence could compromise Channel Maker, whose form is cloudy after fading to finish seventh of eight in the Bowling Green, nine lengths behind Cross Border. That was Channel Maker’s first start in four months, since a disappointing performance in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai after a prior start in Saudi Arabia.
“He had been off a while, traveled around the world, the pace scenario didn’t suit him,” said his trainer, Bill Mott. “Chad’s got a speed horse in there, so we’ll have to deal with that.”
Channel Maker had lost 10 straight before last year’s Sword Dancer, but parlayed that win, a victory in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, and a third-place finish behind two European mares in the Breeders’ Cup Turf to a divisional Eclipse Award. Mott is hoping for a similar leap forward, starting Saturday, as Channel Maker makes his fourth straight appearance in the Sword Dancer.
“He’s got two big races coming up,” Mott said. “Hopefully, he’ll do a little better than last time.”
The high-class Japan invades from Europe for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore. He has won a pair of Group 3 races in four starts this year and seems shy of his brilliant form of 2019, when he was a multiple Group 1 winner. A fast-paced race on firmer ground could bring back that old spark.
Gufo, at age 4 the baby of the race, beat lesser going 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park in the Grand Couturier last time out. The consistent performer never has finished out of the money in 11 starts.
“I’m excited,” said his trainer, Christophe Clement. “It’s going to be a very tough race by definition, but he’s doing well.”
Joel Rosario has the mount and will try to keep Gufo from his wandering ways.
“I’ve got to have a conversation with Rosario to know how much of the stick to use in the race because the drama of the left and the right in the stretch is getting to me a little bit,” Clement said. “Joel will have to work that out.”
Rockemperor is an ideal complement to Tribhuvan for Brown, as he can sit and finish, but he often settles for minor placings.
Distance specialist Moretti got the green light to make his turf debut after 14 dirt races following a drill on the Oklahoma turf course last Sunday. He is by Medaglia d’Oro and out of the Concerto mare Rigoletta, whose offspring include Battle of Midway, but who has never thrown a turf horse of any significance.
–additional reporting by David Grening