New York Dominates
– One of the can’t-miss stories of the Breeders’ Cup was the dominance of New York-prepped and based horses in every race. As Mike Watchmaker points out:
Nine of the 11 Breeders’ Cup race winners — Maryfield, Corinthian, Indian Blessing, War Pass, Lahudood, Midnight Lute, Ginger Punch, English Channel, and Curlin — made their last starts at either Belmont Park or Saratoga. This made for an imposing success rate for New York preps of 81.8 percent. And it should be noted that one of the other two Breeders’ Cup winners at Monmouth, Mile winner Kip Deville, is New York-trained. (DRF+)
Eye-catching stat. It’ll be interesting to see next year, when the Breeders’ Cup is run over the Santa Anita Cushion Track, if the results tilt toward synthetic-surface prepped horses and if trainers, anticipating that trend, send more horses west to run at Del Mar and Oak Tree.
– Let the Derby drums begin beating for War Pass: The undefeated Juvenile winner scored a Beyer speed figure of 113 for the race, which I suppose fits the final time of 1:42.76, but obscures how slow the colt came home, running the final sixteenth in :7.12 and the final quarter in :25.99. Something to keep in mind for next year as the Derby prep season heats up …
– Midnight Lute, for his brilliant last-to-first Sprint win, earned 108, off 16 points from his monster Forego performance last month. Trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday that Midnight Lute would race next year and could possibly start once more this year, in the Cigar Mile. “We’ll play it by ear regarding one more possible start this season,” he said. “We’ll let him tell us” (DRF).
– Bill Finley has no confidence that Curlin will race as a four-year-old. “Racing is just like everything else these days. It’s always about the money” (ESPN).
– Ray Kerrison’s Breeders’ Cup day was “a fiasco rescued by some good luck” (New York Post). Mine was mostly fiasco.
– Owners begin transferring horses from trainer Patrick Biancone’s barn: Lady of Venice goes to Kiaran McLaughlin, Belgravia to Todd Pletcher (Blood-Horse).
