Champagne for Zito
– Looking a little stunned in the winner’s circle following the Champagne Stakes, trainer Nick Zito thanked his help for sticking around “through a long couple of years.” The 1 1/2 length win by War Pass over longshot Pyro was the first graded stakes score for the Zito barn since Wanderin Boy took the G2 Brooklyn Handicap in 2006 and the first G1 win since In the Gold in the 2005 Gazelle Stakes. Zito is now headed to the Breeders’ Cup with the 3-for-3 War Pass, who wired the Champagne in 1:36.12, setting quick early fractions of :22.87 and :45.72 in the first half and running the last quarter in a visually unimpressive :25.88. The colt shortened stride with jockey Cornelio Velasquez scrubbing furiously as they neared the wire, allowing Pyro to cut the margin of victory with a late dash. Whether the front-running War Pass can handle a two-turn route will be a big question going into the Juvenile. [War Pass’ Beyer speed figure: 103.]
Even-money favorite Majestic Warrior and second-favorite Ready’s Image, both graded stakes winners, turned in lousy efforts, finishing sixth and last, respectively. “At the half-mile pole, I was out of horse,” said jockey Garrett Gomez of Majestic Warrior. Trainer Todd Pletcher said immediately after the Champagne that Ready’s Image would not start in the Juvenile. “I wouldn’t expect a horse of that quality to run like that without an excuse” (Blood-Horse).
– Trainer Bob Baffert has two strong contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, with Indian Blessing likely joining Oak Leaf winner Cry and Catch Me in the gate at Monmouth on October 27 following her 4 1/2 length romp this afternoon in the Frizette Stakes. Final time for the mile was 1:37.24; Indian Blessing ran the final quarter in :27.24. Gomez let the filly open up an eight length lead in the stretch, then shut her down in the final sixteenth, saving something for the Breeders’ Cup, perhaps, where she could well start as the favorite. It was only the second career start for the Indian Charlie filly, whose debut win at Saratoga was as much a blowout as the Frizette. [Indian Blessing’s Beyer speed figure: 87.]
– Today’s ESPN Win and You’re In broadcast of the Champagne and Keeneland stakes was bedeviled by audiovisual problems, with sound and picture both dropping out occasionally, and the afternoon was marred by one serious injury and two fatal accidents. In the Phoenix Stakes, Teuflesberg suffered a closed sesamoid fracture while racing third down the backstretch. Jockey Julien Leparoux did an excellent job of pulling up the colt and dismounting and Teuflesberg is now at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, where he’ll have surgery next week on his left foreleg. Before the Phoenix, multiple stakes winner Dream of Angels flipped over, incurring severe head trauma, and was euthanized in the paddock. In the Lane’s End Futurity, Gold Train broke down while pressing pacesetter and eventual winner Wicked Style. The two-year-old colt also suffered a fracture of the sesamoids and was euthanized.
– There’s a pick six carryover of $133,077 at Santa Anita on Sunday, thanks to 61-1 Smokey Route, who knocked out all remaining live tickets winning today’s nightcap. The pick six starts in race five on Sunday, with the Breeders’ Cup Challenge stakes on the card making up the first three legs.
