The Week in Review: With 10 Weeks to BC Classic, Who’s the Boss?

[Wandering Eyes]

We’re approaching the 10-week mark to the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. Want a glimpse at the divisional kingpins? Look to the left–as in Left Coast.

But don’t fix your gaze on California-based older horses for too long. This coming Saturday’s GI Runhappy Travers S. could be a big coming-out party for an East Coast 3-year-old, and an emphatic Saratoga emergence would add depth to a cast of Classic characters that right now is intriguing, but lacking a scare-away-the-competition leader.

Higher Power (Medaglia d’Oro) wasn’t on too many Breeders’ Cup threat lists going into last Saturday. But he sure is now after a thoroughly professional dismantling of the GI TVG Pacific Classic field at 9-1 odds that seemed to fit considering the 4-year-old had never won a stakes race.

Making his fourth start for new connections after being bought for $250,000 at the Keeneland April racing age sale, Higher Power broke running in the Pacific Classic and hounded pacemaker Quip (Distorted Humor) through an even-tempoed first six furlongs before being nudged to ramp up the pressure a half mile from home.

Jockey Flavien Part unleashed Higher Power three-eighths out, and even though the colt was fully committed to the lead, Prat still had a handful of horse at the quarter pole while every competitor within striking distance was being driven hard and with an appearance of desperation. Higher Power was roused for the drive to make sure he stayed focused, and he appeared to relish the task while building a 5 1/4-length cushion to the wire.

If you want to try to chip away at the notion that the Pacific Classic field wasn’t that great on paper to begin with, you could point to the fact that none of the first four betting favorites managed to crack the top four placings. That would be a legitimate criticism. But it still, in my view, doesn’t trump the visual flourish that Higher Power exhibited while soaring solo through the Del Mar stretch.

Higher Power will have a home-track advantage heading into the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park, a race that his trainer, John Sadler, won last year at Churchill Downs with Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky). Sadler has dominated Southern California’s top older-horse dirt distance races the past several seasons, winning the last two runnings of both the Pacific Classic and the GI Santa Anita H.

California is also where you’ll find four-time Grade I stakes winner McKinzie (Street Sense), the current favorite among the smattering of bookmakers taking early bets on the Classic.

In the Aug. 3 GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, McKinzie muscled his way to the top out of a five-horse firing line before rolling home under his own power to score by 1 3/4 lengths. He earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, the second-highest in the nation this year for a two-turn dirt route, behind only City of Light (Quality Road)’s 112 in the GI Pegasus World Cup. McKinzie also owns the third-highest Beyer in the division, a 109 that he racked up in the May 3 GII Alysheba S. at Churchill.

The home-track advantage also applies to McKinzie’s trainer. Bob Baffert has won the last two Classics when the Breeders’ Cup has been run at Santa Anita, in 2016 with Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) and in 2014 with Bayern (Offlee Wild).

Soph Setbacks

Setbacks caused some reshuffling within the ranks of sophomore-level Classic aspirants over the past few days.

It was announced that Omaha Beach (War Front) will miss a much-anticipated comeback at Del Mar this coming weekend because of a virus that is making the rounds in trainer Richard Mandella’s stable.

Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) also came down with a virus, leading Baffert to keep last year’s 2-year-old champ from shipping East for the Travers.

Disqualified GI Kentucky Derby winner Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) also veered away from the Travers after trainer Jason Servis reported the colt “is not 100%.” He’ll be aimed for the Sep. 21 GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx instead.

Travers-bound horses who have the best shot at breakout efforts to propel them into Classic contention are Tacitus (Tapit), who adds blinkers after running second despite a bad gate stumble in the GII Jim Dandy S., and Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), the last-to-first winner of the July 6 GIII Dwyer S.

Yearlings up for private sale in wake of fire

One firefighter was hospitalized for heat exhaustion and no horses were harmed in an Aug. 12 barn fire that caused an estimated $500,000 worth of damage at Anchor & Hope Farms, a breeding, foaling and boarding operation in Port Deposit, Maryland.

According to a report from the local Patch news service, the fire is believed to have started in a stall of the 100-by-30-foot barn that suffered $400,000 in structural damage. Some $100,000 in tack and equipment were also lost in the blaze.

The farm is home to the stallions Imagining, Holy Boss, Bourbon Courage, and Long River.

Ten yearlings that were being aimed for the fall sales are now being put up for private purchase as the farm’s owners, Louis and Grace Merryman, focus on rebuilding their business.

A message posted to Anchor & Hope’s Facebook page last Tuesday said, “Every horse and human is safe, and for that we will be forever grateful. We will rebuild. We will be OK. We felt the horse community rally around us with an outpouring of support and offers of help. Thank you to everyone.

“We have 10 yearlings that are headed to the fall sales. Realistically having them prepped and ready is not possible, and the best solution is to sell them off the farm as quickly as possible. We have an awesome group of colts and fillies by Bourbon Courage and Imagining and a Mineshaft colt. It breaks our hearts as we take great pride in showing everyone off at the sales, but we need to focus on rebuilding. Pictures and pedigrees will be coming soon, so please feel free to be in touch if anyone is interested.” (Contact info is here).

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