Super Frolic produces big surprise

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Super Frolic found himself in a new barn on Wednesday and in a new Breeders' Cup race as owner Ro Parra transferred him to trainer Scott Blasi and entered him in the $2.17 million Breeders' Cup Mile.

Meanwhile, in confirming the wide-open nature of this year's Mile, Churchill Downs handicapper Mike Battaglia and Daily Racing Form national handicapper Mike Watchmaker differed on their top three choices.

Super Frolic finished fourth in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic and last week was pre-entered for both that race and the Mile, with the Classic listed as first preference. On the advice of Jerry Brown, head of the Thoro-Graph handicapping sheets and an adviser to Parra, the decision was made to run in the Mile despite the fact that Super Frolic is 0 for 6 on turf and hasn't run on that surface in more than two years.

"Early in his career this horse ran grass races that were only a couple of lengths off his dirt races and he wasn't near the horse he is now," Brown said. "The Mile is probably in our terms three points - which is about five lengths - easier than the Classic."

With Vladimir Cerin, the trainer of Super Frolic, electing to stay in California this weekend, the horse was transferred to Blasi.

Super Frolic will likely be the longest shot on the board in what is viewed as an inscrutable race. That was evidenced by the fact that Battaglia and Watchmaker made different favorites. Battaglia installed Gorella, the only filly in the field, as the 4-1 morning-line choice despite the fact that she drew post 12. Battaglia made European import Araafa the 9-2 second choice followed by the California-based Aragorn at 5-1.

Watchmaker, however, made the 3-year-old Araafa the 7-2 morning-line choice followed by Aragorn (4-1) and Gorella (5-1).

That Gorella drew post 12 was not a big deal to her jockey, Julien Leparoux.

"Twelve is okay," Leparoux said. "We have to take her a little bit back and cover her up, so we'll be okay with that. Normally you get some pace so that it'll be good for us anyway."

Jeremy Noseda, the trainer of Araafa, said last week that his biggest concern was his colt drawing a "double-digit" post. His fears were allayed when Araafa was assigned post 3. Araafa, coming off a second-place finish to George Washington in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, will be ridden by John Velazquez.

Aragorn, who has won four consecutive graded stakes in Southern California, drew post 7 and will be ridden by Corey Nakatani.

Super Frolic's inclusion in the Mile field kept Ivan Denisovich out. But that was hardly the worst bit of news for trainer Aidan O'Brien. Aussie Rules, another O'Brien entrant and winner of the Shadwell Turf Mile, got stuck in post 14.