West Coast Returns Against Accelerate in Awesome Again

[Wandering Eyes]

After running second to champion Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) to begin the year in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational to follow up a championship season of his own, it appeared that Gary and Mary West’s West Coast (Flatter) was at the top of the older male division. But after disappointing next out and being shelved for the entire summer, he returns Saturday to face the actual leader of the group, Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), in the GI Awesome Again S. at Santa Anita.

Steadily developing as a sophomore, West Coast broke through with a wire-to-wire victory in the GI Travers S. last August, and followed that up with a 7 1/4-length romp in the GI Pennsylvania Derby. Sewing up his Eclipse Award with a good third in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, he was the only horse to get within a pole of Gun Runner in the Pegasus, but finished a distant second in the G1 Dubai World Cup and hasn’t been seen since. He resurfaces with a strong series of local works, capped by a half-mile bullet in :48 flat (1/32) Sept. 25, but will have his hooves full with the current favorite for champion older male.

Hronis Racing’s Accelerate, unlike his rival, disappointed in last year’s Breeders’ Cup when ninth in the Dirt Mile, but has been a force in 2018, going a neck from being unbeaten in five starts and racking up three powerful Grade I wins. The last of which was easily a career-best effort and one of the most impressive top-level victories in years when the chestnut crushed the GI Pacific Classic field by 12 1/2 lengths. With the other four runners in the Awesome Again appearing too slow, it sets up for an intriguing match race between the king of the hill and the champion trying to regain his perch.

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