Via TD Thornton
Saturday’s pair of Level I dirt roads for 2-year-olds reinforced intriguing subplots while setting up three likely favorites for GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
‘Rising star TDN’ is unbeaten Stone cave (Pride) kingpin status is fortified with a well packed of HOLD American pharoah Field of S. at Santa Anita.
But fellow ‘Rising Star’ Forte (Violence) and Log in (Ghostzapper) may have delivered show more nuances with their extended slugfest event in GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity S.
Throwing out a 104 Beyer Speed Figure in a two-turn debut while never appearing nearly fully expanded, the speed-controlled Cave Rock toyed with an unproven quality field on the way to the 5 1/4 lap for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.
But even coach Bob Baffert – whose underage has consistently been so dominant that a 1-2-3-4 finish of all four of his contestants on Saturday’s Class I bets seems to be. as a ho-hum occurrence – it was noted after the race that although Cave Rock “Continues to Improve”, the swiftness of the Breeder’s Trophy, the foal’s momentum and a bit of luck at loading Visit after all will be the deciding factor in how the Young’s tournament plays.
“Right now, he is what you need. You need something right now, that should be good within the next 30 days,” Baffert said. “This horse had to run like that to get to the Breeder’s Cup.”
Cave Rock, who races with his head down in a style reminiscent of his males, confidently pacing through consecutive 1/4-mile distances of: 22.96,:23.86 and: 24.25, with driver Juan Hernandez coming back just a little to the far end before demanding a more serious (but hardly excessive) effort in the upper stretch.
Cave Rock extended its winning margin without facing a reliable opponent, finishing in the 4th quarter at: 25.49 with the final score: 6.49 times 16 for the overall rate. Round 1: 43.05.
Cave Rock is building on the Del Mar MSW sprint, bringing in 101 Beyer, and his GI Del Mar Futurity win, although it does represent a slight drop to 98, it’s admirable for the deep visuals. This horse’s color makes the field spin while it looks like there’s still a lot of stuff in his tank.
The Cave Rock beat to advance into the Breeders’ Cup will be his route to the Juvenile which is already on the soft side, and he has yet to encounter or overcome significant adversity in any of the races. mine. The horses he beat in his first two attempts turned into a zero-to-six team in subsequent starts and three of his seven opponents on Saturday. American pharoah S. is a young woman.
Keeneland’s short distance configuration for the 1 1/16 mile Juvenile (starting and finishing at the sixteenth pole) should theoretically benefit Cave Rock’s speed centered.
But he will likely face significantly more pressure up front in the Breeders’ Cup, and as Baffert said on Saturday, the track layout for that distance is a “tough, you have to draw, you must be lucky in Keeneland. Post location will be a big factor there. “
Being able to generate random rides while negotiating 14 horses worth of traffic are career advancement boxes successfully tested by both Forte (owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable). for trainer Todd Pletcher) and Loggins (wearing the colors of Spendthrift Farm in a 10-Way Partnership for Coach Brad Cox) at Keeneland on Saturday.
They earned 92 and 91 Beyers, respectively, at the end of a neck and 6 3/4 length gap over the rest of the field. (Fittingly, in a stake sponsored by Claiborne Farms, the stallion Blame provided broodmare-sire precisiona.)
Forte, like Cave Rock, will go into the Juvenile with two Class I wins in recognition of its merits. But you can make a very plausible case for the runner-up that Loggins is a “wise” player in the Juvenile, because he has clearly exceeded expectations.
Loggins, stepping into the Class I company for his route debut following the MSW sprint victory at Churchill, established a strong initial position near the interior amid crushed first-turn traffic. . He took the lead and looked good in himself while shielding in third place in the fence on the backseat run, then took the top spot 4 1/2 away from the rope – an apple move bold which at first seems too young, on consideration. The foal’s relative inexperience and the presence of the Forte’s build dynamics are favored from the mid-range.
Loggins confidently went home after consecutive innings: 22.94,: 23.42 and: 25.27 before being cornered by Forte. Forte had methodically picked out most targets by aiming precisely through the far bend, but was flipped off the track with what appeared to be a steamy head.
Forte and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., joined the Railroad Loggins and Florent Geroux with a long rest versus short track configuration. But Loggins was not publicly threatened and responded gamblingly with a pushback, even as Forte took a slight lead in the fourth quarter by a ratio of: 26.54.
With sixteen remaining, Loggins was determined to move forward about six jumps before Forte regained his incremental lead on the finish line. They ran the last half in a lock step: 6.57 for a final clock rate of 1:44.74.
“He was a pony, and I had to start working hard on him,” Ortiz said. “He started doing it little by little, but when I got there and got the lead, he started acting a little pale and a little nervous. I had to hug him the whole way. He wouldn’t even let me ride him that well. The whole time I had to hug him [off of] That horse inside me, take care of it at the same time when I win the race. “
Geroux saw it in a different way, he made a bad request without the permission of the managers.
“It was a good race. I got a little squeeze at the eighth pole,” said Geroux. “[Forte] came a bit on me and my horse was turning, and i thought i had to pay with the win. “
