MARTEDÌ 1 NOVEMBRE 2016. America, #BC16: Gli schieramenti completi delle Breeders’. Found correrà il Turf, California Chrome vs Arrogate nel Classic
BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC: UNFINISHED BUSINESS FOR CALIFORNIA CHROME
By Bob Ehalt, special to the Breeders’ Cup
There’s little that has avoided California Chrome’s grasp in terms of accomplishments on the racetrack.
He’s won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic, to name a few, and has been named Horse of the Year in four brilliant seasons of racing in which he has blossom into North America’s all-time leading money earner with $13,432,650.
Yet there is some unfinished business that could be rectified on Saturday.
One of the blank spots on the California-bred’s sterling resume involves the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In his lone appearance in the mile-and-a-quarter test, which came in the 2014 edition at Santa Anita, he settled for third, a nose and a neck behind the victorious Bayern.
That could change in Saturday’s 33rd renewal of America’s richest race when the 5-year-old will be heavily favored to complete an undefeated 2016 campaign with a victory in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park (5:35 p.m. PDT, NBC TV).
Trained by 79-year-old Art Sherman for majority owner Perry Martin’s California Chrome LLC, the 2014 Horse of the Year landed post four in a field of at Monday’s draw and was installed as a heavy even-money favorite over nine rivals in the Grade 1 centerpiece of the World Championships.
“He looks great,” said Alan Sherman, assistant to and son of Art Sherman. “He had a strong work at Los Alamitos last Thursday, so we’ll just gallop him up to the race.”
The one most likely to spoil the day for the homebred son of Lucky Pulpit and his legion of fans known as “Chromies” could come from a 3-year-old who turned in one of the most astonishing wins of 2016 — on any continent.
Sent off as an 11-1 longshot in his stakes debut, Juddmonte Farms’ Arrogate demolished 12 rivals in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga, winning by 13 1/2 lengths in the track record time of 1:59.36 in giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert the win in the Mid-Summer Derby that eluded him in 2015 with American Pharoah.
Arrogate, the 5-2 second choice, drew the outside post in the field of 10. The gray son of Unbridled’s Song has not raced since his romp in the Aug. 27 Travers.
“If the horses are doing well that’s more important than the post and this horse is doing well,” Baffert said. “We’re all up against it (against California Chrome) but we don’t know how good Arrogate is. We haven’t set him down yet.”
Godolphin Racing’s Frosted was pegged as the 5-1 third-choice and drew post two. A lopsided 14 ½-length winner of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June at Belmont Park, he posted a two-length score in the Whitney at Saratoga but has not raced since a third-place finish as a 2-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Woodward at the Spa.
Baffert will also be represented by Hoppertunity, a 5-year-old with career earnings of $3.5 million. Winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont in his last start, Hoppertunity drew post nine and will break next to his stablemate.
Effinex, runner-up to Hoppertunity by a half-length in the JC Gold Cup and second to Grand Slam champion American Pharoah in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, landed post one and was pegged at 15-1 in the morning line.
The complete field, from the rail out with morning line, for the Breeders’ Classic is: Effinex (15-1), Frosted (5-1), Keen Ice (20-1), California Chrome (1-1), Win the Space (40-1), Melatonin (20-1), War Story (30-1), Shaman Ghost (20-1), Hoppertunity (15-1) and Arrogate (5-2).
LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP TURF: GRASS IS GREENER FOR FOUND
By Bob Ehalt, special to the Breeders’ Cup
On second thought, the grass is indeed greener for Found.
Though the fabulous filly was entered in the 33rd Breeders’ Cup with a first preference for the $6 million BC Classic on dirt, at Monday’s post-position draw the Coolmore 4-year-old wound up in the Longines $4 million BC Turf where she will attempt to become the third back-to-back winner of the Grade 1 stakes.
She drew post 10 in a field of 13.
When Found returns to the Breeders’ Cup, she will arrive with even more honors than when she was last seen in the United States a year ago at Keeneland.
On Oct. 2, she snapped a streak of five straight runner-up finishes by capturing Europe’s premier race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by 1 3/4 lengths over stablemate Highland Reel, who will also be competing in the mile-and-a-half test at Santa Anita Park on Saturday (3:22 PDT post time, NBCSN).
Since her heralded win at Chantilly, Found was second in the Group 1 QUIPCO Champion Stakes on Oct. 15 as she followed the same path that brought her to the world championships in 2015. Back then as a 3-year-old, she was ninth in the Arc and second in the Champion.
So far during an active 2016 campaign, the Aidan O’Brien-trained daughter of Galileo has two wins and six seconds in nine starts and has raised her career earnings to $7.25 million.
Highland Reel, who will break from post 12, has solid credentials of his own. Aside from the runner-up finish in the Arc, the 4-year-old won the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on July 23. An earner of $5.1 million, he took the Group I Hong Kong Vase last December, beating the top U.S.-based BC Turf entrant, Flintshire.
Trained by Chad Brown, the United States’ leader in 2016 earnings, Flintshire was in the midst of a perfect 2016 campaign until he ran into soggy turf in the G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 1 and finished second to front-running Ectot in a small field of four. Winner of the Sword Dancer, Bowling Green and Manhattan prior to his setback in the Joe Hirsch, Flintshire figures to relish the expected firm conditions at Santa Anita.
Flintshire, who drew post four, was second in the 2014 BC Turf at Santa Anita, finishing a half-length behind Main Sequence. With earnings of $8.9 million from eight wins and 11 seconds in 23 career starts, the Juddmonte Farms 6-year-old was second in the Arc in 2014 and 2015.
Ectot posted a breakthrough win in the Joe Hirsch, which served as his third start in the United States under the care of seven-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher. The 5-year-old’s previous win at the Grade/Group 1 level came in the 2013 Criterium International in France.
Pletcher has been pleased with Ectot’s works since the mile-and-a-half Joe Hirsch and is hopeful of a solid performance at the same distance on firm turf in the world championships.
“He breezed well and appears to be in great form at the moment,” Pletcher said of a 49.45 seconds four-furlong work over a “good” turf course at Belmont on Oct. 30. “He’s got a great action, he breezed great and galloped out strongly. He’s done everything you would hope after the Turf Classic win. He’s come back and trained super.
“It’s a deep race, it’s going to be a new surface for him, and a little bit of a different dynamic, but I think he can show what he did in the Turf Classic. We’ve learned a little bit more about him as we’ve gone along and (jockey Jose Ortiz) gets along with him really well.”
The entire field, from the rail out, is: Ralis (30-1), Da Big Hoss (20-1), Ectot (8-1), Flintshire (5-2), Ashleyluvssugar (15-1), Mondialiste (15-1), Ulysses (12-1), Twilight Eclipse (30-1), Money Multiplier (20-1), Found (3-1), Texas Ryano (30-1), Highland Reel (3-1) and Metaboss (30-1).
fonte : Breeder’s Cup
