Watchmaker: Accelerate building Eclipse Award-worthy credentials

There comes a point in every racing season when body of work becomes as important as perceived brilliance and ability, and we have now reached that point with Accelerate.

Although it is entirely a matter of opinion, I suspect many folks would agree that Accelerate – even the freakish version of Accelerate we watched dominate Saturday’s Pacific Classic at Del Mar – is not equal to the standard established by Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male, or, for that matter, West Coast, last year’s Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old male.

Gun Runner might have retired to stud in late January after he won the Pegasus World Cup. But the Pegasus, without question, remains all these months later the strongest and deepest race run for older dirt males all year. Moreover, Gun Runner’s decisive, 2 1/2-length victory in it is still undoubtedly the best performance by an older dirt male this year in the U.S.

In addition, a strong case can be made that the comebacking West Coast’s second in the Pegasus, almost 11 lengths ahead of third place (an effort followed by his second in the Dubai World Cup), was the next-best performance in this country this year by an older dirt male. And clearly so.

This is not to say Accelerate hasn’t had bouts of brilliance, too, because he certainly was all that on Saturday. Accelerate made a complete show of his Pacific Classic field, winning off by 12 1/2 lengths and earning a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 115, which would be a career best.

It was a smashing performance. But unlike the Pegasus, where Gun Runner humbled a couple of champions (Stellar Wind and West Coast), Accelerate mastered the somewhat surprising Stephen Foster Handicap winner, Pavel. These considerations, however, are now eclipsed by the larger point of what the Pacific Classic did for Accelerate’s résumé.

The Pacific Classic was Accelerate’s third Grade 1 victory this year, along with his clear-cut scores in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita and the Santa Anita Handicap (he was also much the best in winning the Grade 2 San Pasqual and ran well when a narrowly beaten second in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in his only 2018 defeat).

It appears that it means little to everyone except those who will bet the races Accelerate runs in this fall that he only beat Mubtaahij in the Big Cap, or Dr. Dorr in the Gold Cup. Nevertheless, the Grade 1 triple Accelerate has fashioned for himself this year is a heady one for any older dirt male and puts him in prime position for the autumn sprint to a divisional title.

• Even though she thoroughly dominated Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, it is highly unlikely Eskimo Kisses will enter any divisional Eclipse Award discussions in the coming weeks. Three straight losses – none of them even remotely close – to the top 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl in the Ashland, Kentucky Oaks, and Coaching Club American Oaks ensure that.

That’s okay. Eskimo Kisses is suddenly now an exponentially more valuable broodmare prospect for notching her first career stakes victory in one of the three most prestigious races for 3-year-old fillies.

This Alabama was strictly a matter of ability to best negotiate the 10-furlong distance, and Eskimo Kisses left zero doubt that she was all alone in that regard. A distant trailer off an early pace so absurdly quick that it would have been unsustainable for even distance-loving fillies, Eskimo Kisses inhaled the Alabama field around the far turn and into the stretch and drew off to score in isolation.

Midnight Bisou and Talk Veuve to Me finished third and fourth as the first two favorites, but I can’t be too harsh on them. Midnight Bisou tried an off-the-pace approach similar to Eskimo Kisses but was simply unable to stay.

Forget about 1 1/4 miles. I don’t think Midnight Bisou wants any part of 1 1/8 miles right now. And as for Talk Veuve to Me, she carved out a pace that was just plain silly for a filly who had never even raced beyond 1 1/16 miles. These two, I believe, would be very interesting candidates for something like the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Despite being soundly beaten, I do want to award Alabama runner-up She’s a Julie a few bonus points. She attacked the fast early pace and fought on gamely, and she is clearly much improved.

• It was lousy to hear of Unique Bella’s retirement Saturday due to an injury sustained in a workout at Del Mar. Last year’s champion female sprinter at 3, Unique Bella ranked as the top older dirt female in the nation at the time of her injury on the strength of victories in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch, Grade 1 Beholder Mile, and Grade 2 Santa Maria, and her second with excuses in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom, in her four starts this year.

Yet even with an extreme lack of quality depth in her division, it seems unlikely that Unique Bella will be able to hold onto divisional leadership in absentia through the major fall races. Unless, that is, there are some wacky results this fall (which is never out of the question) or the division suffers another one or two key defections.

How extreme is the lack of depth in the older dirt female division? There are only two – two! – active fillies who have the credentials to take over for Unique Bella – Abel Tasman and Elate. And Abel Tasman and Elate are going to meet in Saturday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on the Travers Stakes card, exponentially increasing the importance of that event.