BC Diary for Saturday, Oct. 26
By STEVEN CRIST
First thoughts as evening descends on a chilly Chicago after a long and fascinating afternoon of racing at Breeders' Cup XIX:
Distaff: Azeri is the real deal and ran a race that looked good as it unfolded and even better as the day went along. Early in the card it appeared possible there was a speed bias to the track, but as the day wore on it became clear that the surface was fair for those who handled it. Everyone will spend the next three months debating whether Azeri should be Horse of the Year without having raced outside of the filly division, but there's no denying she's the best filly in the country after beating an outstanding field and doing it impressively.
Farda Amiga probably locked up the 3-year-old filly title with a nice rally for second to nip Imperial Gesture. The disappointments of the race were Take Charge Lady, who was found to be suffering from an infection after the race, and Summer Colony, who showed nothing at any point.
Juvenile Fillies: Storm Flag Flying should join Azeri as a unanimous divisional champion after a gutsy victory. Headed by a surging Composure, she fought back as few 2-year-old fillies will to reclaim the lead and draw away to an admirable victory. It might not be that farfetched to think she might end up challenging colts in the classics next year. She's already as fast as them and keeps getting better with every additional half-furlong.
Mile: Domedriver was a useable overlay at 25-1 in a race marred by the breakdown of Landseer and the ridiculous ride and trip for favored Rock of Gibraltar, whose late kick when finally clear was as exhilarating a move as anyone turned in all day long.
Sprint: The best horse won as Orientate secured the champion sprinter's title by running down the unlikely Thunderello in deep stretch. The expected multiway pace duel never materialized as Thunderello outbroke and outran a collection of serious speedballs and hung in gamely. The pure closers never really got untracked, though Kona Gold was a respectable fourth in his fifth straight Sprint appearance.
Filly & Mare Turf: Starine, a generous 13-1, does her best with some give in the ground and she caught a course she really liked, kicking clear from the favorites in a race where fewer than three lengths separated the next eight under the wire. Owner-trainer Bobby Frankel, who also saddled runner-up Banks Hill, may run her back in the Matriarch. It's tough to make her a divisional champion off a 1-for-4 record this year.
Juvenile: Vindication probably became the champion 2-year-old and winter-book Derby favorite with a fast follow-up to his slow but visually-impressive Kentucky Cup Juvenile victory. Trainer Bob Baffert, who ran 2-3 behind Storm Flag Flying the Juvenile Fillies, ran 1-2-4 in here as he also trains Bull Market and Kafwain. Favored Whywhywhy was a bit rank down the backstretch but was perfectly placed and stopped badly.
Turf: High Chapparal was clearly best and showed strong acceleration off a slow pace to prevail as the favorite, but runner-up With Anticipation ran a truly admirable race to be a strong second. Eclipse voters will probably follow the result of the race and give the grass title, and possibly some Horse of the Year consideration, to High Chaparral.
Classic: Volponi. By 6 1/2 widening lengths. At 43-1. It was a devastating breakthrough performance by a talented and versatile colt who had repeatedly flashed potential but also been off the board in his only two other Grade 1 dirt races. The result stunned and silenced the crowd and made a mess of the Horse of the Year, older-horse and 3-year-old championship pictures.
If Volponi hadn't fired and runner-up Medaglia d'Oro had beaten Milwaukee Brew by a neck towin the Classic, he might well have wrapped up two Eclipse Awards and now may get none. He and War Emblem end up having split their four decisions this year, and War Emblem may have the edge with Derby, Preakness and Haskell victories, as opposed to Medaglia d'Oro's Jim Dandy and Travers wins with second-place finishes in the Belmont and Classic. And who's the champion older horse - Volponi for winning the Classic? Left Bank or Street Cry for their earlier accomplishments this year? Milwaukee Brew or Evening Attire, who finished third and fourth in that order in the Classic?
There will be plenty to argue about in the weeks ahead.
War Emblem never looked like a winner, even when he took a brief lead on the final turn, and faded to finish eighth in his final career start. He now disappears to Japan as an enigma, a colt who fired the public imagination for five weeks and then finished 7th, 6th and 8th in three of his four final starts. Came Home, another potential champion, was a thoroughly dull 10th in his last appearance.
In a season when erratic and inconsistent performances and abbreviated careers marked the 3-year-old and handicap divisions, the best of racing's champions were specialists - Azeri, Storm Flag Flying, Orientate, High Chaparral. Those four surged to glory on this Breeders' Cup day, while Rock of Gibraltar and Medaglia d'Oro had to settle for second place.
The $426k Ultra Pick Six payoff sounded big but I suspect that those who had it were disappointed. Anyone who used Domedriver, Starine and Volponi on the same ticket had every right to think he was the sole winner of over $3 million.
| 
