After a tumultuous week in the Thoroughbred racing world, it should only make sense that Belmont be smashed by track-closing thunderstorms on the Thursday and Friday before a spectacular Saturday card, highlighted by the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Perhaps the storm is the boiling wrath of the horse racing gods, who in the same week lost one champion to tragedy, and the darling of the sport to an abrupt retirement. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the racing world was rocked when on Tuesday, news broke that the 1998 dual classic winner Real Quiet died after a freak paddock accident; hours later, it was announced that the 2009 Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, had been retired. All of this on the brink of the biggest weekend leading up to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. So while we scramble to make sense of recent events, Zenyatta, Lookin at Lucky, Blame, Rail Trip, Paddy O’ Prado, and Blind Luck will carry on in what still must be considered a super Saturday of racing, despite the shockwave that has stunned our sport.
Thanks to plane delays, the two headliners of Saturday’s Belmont card only just made it to New York this afternoon. Big bad Blame will attempt to stretch his winning streak to six in the Gold Cup as he tries the classic 1 ¼-mile distance for the first time. With his patented late-running charge, the winner of the Grade I Stephen Foster and Whitney Stakes looks as if he will relish the extra distance. Blame’s challengers, most notably Rail Trip, Fly Down, and Haynesfield, will be saddled with more than they can handle in this final Grade I test before the Breeders’ Cup. The Gold Cup will be Rail Trip’s first start on dirt, and he is looking vulnerable off a layoff, where after finishing second in the Hollywood Gold Cup, he bruised a foot, missed some training, was moved from the West to East coast and given to a new trainer. Fly Down most recently lost the Grade I Travers by a nose to Afleet Express, but has the class and same come-from-behind running style as Blame, deserving this chance to step up against older horses for the first time. Haynesfield’s Whitney performance showed he was worthy of being mixed up in this level of competition, even though he finished well back behind Blame and Quality Road; the Asmussen trainee’s race was over when he broke through the starting gate before the Whitney, but he still managed to finish fourth. Prior to that throw-out race, Haynesfield won the Grade II Suburban Handicap at Belmont.
The other horse hoping to make the flight to Belmont for Saturday’s card is Paddy O’ Prado, who is entered against older horses for the first time in the Grade I Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational. At 1 ½-miles, the Turf Classic will be a new frontier in distance for the recently-minted Grade I-winning Paddy, who took the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington on Million Day in his most recent start. Though Gio Ponti will not be present, the horse that beat him in the Manhattan Handicap at Belmont, Winchester, will be entered, and looks to be Paddy’s biggest challenge. This race will be a huge test for Paddy, measuring this 3-year-old’s class as to how he might fare in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Blind Luck is the most traveled horse in her class, and she will hit the road again for the Grade II Fitz Cotillion at Parx Racing (formerly Philadelphia Park) in Pennsylvania this Saturday. Using this race as one last prep before the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, Blind Luck will be attempting to score her sixth graded stakes victory of the year. Opting to have his filly concede 10 pounds to her rivals in the Cotillion instead of pitting her against Zenyatta in the Lady’s Secret at Hollywood Park, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer didn’t have much of a choice for an easy spot as a last prep race for the Breeders’ Cup. In this spot, Blind Luck will be carrying the high weight as she tries to pull off her patented squeaker on rival Havre de Grace for the third time. The difference in weight will be the champion filly’s Achilles’ heel, to be sure, but somehow, her nose always seems to be on the winning side in the photo finish. Can the aptly-named Blind Luck pull it off again under these conditions?
The theme of a few races this weekend seems to be the story of the 3-year-olds’ transition into facing older rivals. Like Blind Luck, Lookin at Lucky will likely run his last race against his age group this Saturday when he headlines the $500,000 Grade II Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park. But there will be more than just a purse worth half a million dollars at stake; Lucky will try to win the Indiana Derby for trainer Bob Baffert and majority owner Mike Pegram, the very same connections that led the late great Real Quiet to an award-winning campaign in 1998. In those red and yellow silks with that blue shadow roll, Lucky would be a spitting image of the Fish if he was equipped with black blinkers. Coming off a smashing victory in the Grade I Haskell Invitational, putting away some of the top horses in his class, Lucky has already proven his mettle as the top horse in his division. He missed some training after developing an illness after the Haskell, but enters this race fresh and fit to take on the eight challengers who have stepped up to face him. Most noteworthy of these is Thiskyhasnolimit, winner of the Grade III Irioquois at Churchill Downs last year; despite this horse’s presence, Lucky will likely go off somewhere around 1-9, as his rivals’ resumes are paltry in comparison. Should he run as expected, a victory this Saturday by Lucky would surely be an emotional one.
And speaking of emotional races, Saturday will also mark the last time Zenyatta runs in California. Going for an unprecedented 19th-straight victory, and her third win the Grade I Lady’s Secret, the California Colossus will make her bow at Hollywood Park in her final prep before attempting to win her second Breeders’ Cup Classic. Much to no one’s surprise, hardly any filly of much distinction will dare face her. Of the five contenders stepping up to be sacrificed on the queen’s altar, Rinterval came closest to spoiling Zenyatta’s spotless record when she was beaten by a neck in the Clement Hirsch August 7th. New blood Switch is entered for trainer John Sadler, coming off a victory in the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar and the Grade II Hollywood Oaks, where she upset Blind Luck; this will be Switch’s first race against older horses. If Zenyatta wins her third Lady’s Secret, she will tie the modern-day record held by Peppers Pride for winning the most consecutive races; in turn, she would be going into the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs trying to break that record and retire a perfect 20-20. She will try to keep her streak going this Saturday and will be watched by a nationwide audience on ESPN; this is the first time ESPN will air a non-Breeders’ Cup race by the undefeated champion. It’s good news for race fans who don’t get TVG in their homes or don’t have access to a solid internet connection, but feels more than a little tardy to be introducing a broader audience to our national treasure in her second-to-last career effort. Nevertheless, Zenyatta will finally get a piece of the audience she deserves. 90-minute coverage for the Lady’s Secret will begin on ESPN Classic starting at 6:30 and end at 8 p.m. Eastern. The race will also be featured on ESPN between college football games at approximately 7:15 p.m. Eastern.
The results to the aforementioned races will serve to beef up the intrigue to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs come November 5th and 6th. If the favorite for each of these prep races wins, they will likely enter their respective Breeders’ Cup races as the favorite or be considered a top contender for the biggest race of their lives. But first they must prove one last time they belong there, among the best the world has to offer. This Saturday they have that chance.
Except for Rachel, that is. But that’s a rant for next week.
For post times and coverage information, see the stakes schedule at NTRA.com.