The Week in Review: Six Takes on Two Weekend Stakes for Breeders’ Cup Classic Contenders

[Wandering Eyes]

Bi-coastal, 1 1/4-mile Grade I stakes over the weekend at Del Mar and Saratoga featured a number of contenders projected to target the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The obvious winner was continent-crossing jockey John Velazquez, who parlayed a win in Saturday's GI Pacific Classic into a score 16 hours later in Sunday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Here's a look how the horses who were in action emerged from those efforts and where they stand heading into the championship race.

Fierceness: For a colt who has a reputation for sometimes not sealing the deal and for not being overly fond of racing while pinned down inside, this 'TDN Rising Star' by City of Light orchestrated a Houdini-like extrication from dicey circumstances in Saturday's Pacific Classic when he attempted to duck into the temporary rail leaving the 10-furlong start chute and then overreacted by pulling in the opposite direction.

Velazquez said post-win (107 Beyer Speed Figure) that he “wanted to stay off” Fierceness's mouth and that the 4-year-old was “keen to go on” with an early move into the far turn. But once clear of rivals Velazquez “wanted to get him off the bridle a little and let him finish,” and that's exactly what Fierceness did, opening up by 3 1/4 lengths at 8-5 odds over the 2-5 favorite, Journalism (Curlin).

You could raise the argument that Fierceness encountered little difficulty once he put away the 96-1 and 72-1 longshots who were capitulating on the far turn, meaning that the Pacific Classic wasn't a stern late-race test of his ability to handle multiple waves of challengers.

That's a valid point, because in many other Grade I races (like when fifth-place Fierceness had everything his own way, pace-wise, but could not sustain his mid-race bid in the Aug. 2 GI Whitney Stakes) that sort of move might only resonate as “premature.”

It didn't on Saturday though, and now this two-time winner at 1 1/4 miles is on his way back to New York to train up to the Breeders' Cup after notching a win over the Del Mar surface before needing to ship back there again for the Nov. 1 Classic.

Fierceness was second in last year's Classic, also at Del Mar, as the 2-1 beaten fave behind 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner).

Antiquarian: The “other” Todd Pletcher-trained entrant upset the Jockey Club Gold Cup at 13-1 odds after stablemate and second betting choice Mindframe (Constitution) lost his jockey in a gate incident that changed the entire complexion of the race and also resulted in a disqualification of the third-place finisher.

Following the spill that occurred to his inside, this 4-year-old son of Preservationist was midpack behind a breakaway 70-1 pacemaker before getting second run on that speedster and steadily closing the gap with his big, white blaze cocked out toward the grandstand. Antiquarian came over the top a sixteenth out, a comfortable 1 1/2 lengths clear of the late-striding 1.15-1 favorite Sierra Leone.

Antiquarian, who had not previously been considered an A-list aspirant for the Classic, earned an automatic, fees-paid berth into that race. His only previous stakes victory was last year's GIII Peter Pan Stakes, although he did win a seven-furlong allowance/optional claimer at Gulfstream in April off a 10-month layoff before finishing second in both the GIII Blame Stakes and the GII Suburban Stakes.

Sierra Leone: Even though the defending Classic champ was likely going to do his running from well off the tailgate anyway in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, it didn't help his rhythm when he was forced to alter course around the fallen jockey in the first sixteenth of the race, and then Flavien Prat had to take him back and build a bid with a loose horse in front of him.

Sierra Leone launched into his reliable late-stage run three furlongs out and came wide and driving like he usually does. He did display a little of the deep-stretch lugging-in (inconsequential, in this case) that has been a hard-to-shake habit since the early part of his career. But this 4-year-old's best races continue to be those in which he gets a significant speed set-up on the front end, like in the Whitney Stakes, when no fewer than five other horses had led at some point before he torqued past in a “last man standing” effort.

It's too early to tell whether Sierra Leone will have his type of tempo unfold before him in the Classic at Del Mar, but he did win last year's edition off similar 2 1/2-month spacing after being a beaten fave in a Saratoga stakes (the GI Travers).

Journalism: This three-time Grade I winner didn't show next-level advancement when second in the Pacific Classic and facing older horses for the first time. Journalism's 102-Beyer effort wasn't a marked regression, but this 3-year-old son of Curlin will now have to prep for the Breeders' Cup off a plateau that lacks positive momentum.

The beaten fave in the GI Kentucky Derby had shipped East for four straight races and was deserving of a start on his home circuit. His drop-back-to-last style on Saturday was appropriate for the pace and it kept Journalism out of the traffic he often encounters.

But nothing about his one-paced move from the three-eighths pole home capitalized on Fierceness's self-inflicted trip trouble, and Journalism's deep-stretch chase mode was without the impressive, final-sixteenth winning turns of foot he uncorked when seemingly beaten in the GI Preakness Stakes and GI Haskell Stakes.

Journalism will now get a nine-week break leading up to the Breeders' Cup, the longest time off he's had since the gap between his juvenile and sophomore seasons. He'll enter the Classic with three attempts at 10 furlongs this campaign, but he's been second each time, and projects to face the horses–Fierceness and Sovereignty (Into Mischief)–that have already bested him at that distance.

Mindframe: After dislodging jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. shortly after the break in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Mindframe toured the track riderless before getting collared by an outrider. He was walked back to the barn area, and several hours after the incident, trainer Pletcher said on Sunday that initial inspections of the colt checked out “fine.”

Should he go on to target the Breeders' Cup, Mindframe would be one of the more intriguing Classic contenders based on his versatile running style and previous 3-for-3 record in stakes this year, in which this 4-year-old has already beaten the likes of Sierra Leone, Nysos (Nyquist) and the crack sprinter Book 'em Danno (Bucchero) in races between seven and nine furlongs.

Nysos: This 'TDN Rising Star' by Nyquist gets an “incomplete” grade because he scratched out of the Pacific Classic on race day with a hind hoof bruise that trainer Bob Baffert described as “sensitive.” By Sunday morning, Baffert told Daily Racing Form that Nysos “looked better” and that the colt will now aim for the nine-furlong GI Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita Sept. 27.

Nysos has only raced six times in a career that spans 21 months and includes a 15-month layoff between his 3- and 4-year-old seasons, but he was riding a two-race win streak into the Pacific Classic.

He had splintered the field in the four-horse GIII Triple Bend Stakes over seven furlongs (108  Beyer) on May 31 at Santa Anita, then overcame being hemmed at the fence on the far turn of the July 26 GII San Diego Handicap before slicing up the rail and galloping home in hand by 2 3/4 lengths.

That victory gave him a win over the Del Mar surface in preparation for the Breeders' Cup, but Nysos still hasn't raced beyond 1 1/16 miles.

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