Game Winner

[Wandering Eyes]

GAME WINNER (c, Candy Ride {Arg}—Indyan Giving, by A.P. Indy)
‘TDN Rising Star’. O-Gary & Mary West. B-Summer Wind Equine (KY). T-Bob Baffert. Sales History: $110,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: MGISW, 4-4-0-0, $1,496,000.
Last Start: 1st, GI Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile , CD, Nov. 2
Accomplishments Include: 1st, GI American Pharoah S., SA, Sept. 29; 1st, GI Del Mar Futurity, DMR, Sept. 3
Next Start: Uncommitted
Equineline PPs. KY Derby Points: 30.

‘TDN Rising Star’ Game Winner is the undefeated victor of the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and appears to be a lock to earn the divisional championship at the Eclipse Awards. You have to respect those impeccable credentials while also realizing there is active debate as to whether he will turn out to be the best long-range Derby candidate within trainer Bob Baffert’s deeply stocked stable. I assembled this season’s debut Top 12 with him on top only after strongly considering other combinations that involved this week’s 1-2-3 kingpins. This $110,000 KEESEP Candy Ride (Arg) colt bulled his way to an impressive open-length debut win at Del Mar prior to asserting himself in back-to-back, short-field Grade I stakes on the SoCal circuit. Then he roared home with authority as the even-money Juvenile fave despite being bumped at the break and giving up four paths of real estate on both turns. Strongly in his favor is Baffert’s been-there-done-that success in Triple Crown races. But since the advent of the Breeders’ Cup, Juvenile winners are a collective 2-for-34 in the Derby (Nyquist and Street Sense). Game Winner is currently in light training at Santa Anita.

VIDEO PPS

FINISH	RACE
1st	GI Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
1st	GI American Pharoah S.
1st	GI Del Mar Futurity
1st	Maiden

 

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