Whenever southern California hosts the Breeders' Cup, you can be sure that the “Hollywood ending” storyline will be invoked to infuse a bit of the region's cinematic history into the sport's world championships.
Saturday's GI Classic had all the makings of a storybook “redemption race” for the modestly bred fan favorite, a GI Kentucky Derby winner who was trying to go undefeated as a flourishing 5-year-old after a setback-ensnared season at age four. And Friday's marquee matchup in the GI Distaff was supposed to be the “passing of the torch” showdown between the gallant veteran champion and her younger, flashier rival.
This weekend's fascinating double features came off as smashing examples of the most captivating on-track action the game has to offer–yet the scripts were flipped, making the sport's future storylines even more intriguing as racing roars forward into 2017.
With a devastating closing kick, long-striding Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) inhaled California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in the shadow of the Santa Anita Park line to win the Classic by a half-length. This, in effect, was the weekend's big “passing of the torch” race.
In contrast, the gutsy nose victory by Beholder (Henny Hughes) over the undefeated Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) in the Distaff, after a relentless two-horse hookup the entire length of the stretch, more aptly qualifies as the “redemption” race of the weekend, because Beholder was coming off an uncharacteristic losing streak.
Yet in the cases of both the Classic and the Distaff, neither beaten favorite was dishonored in defeat; that theme played out for most of the Breeders' Cup: of this weekend's 13 championship races, only two were won by betting favorites. And in terms of margins of victory, almost every contest was thrillingly close–nine were decided by less than a length, including three wins by noses and two by necks.
In the Classic, another surprise was the pace scenario itself. When California Chrome broke running with no challengers eager to go with him, Victor Espinoza let Chrome roll through moderate fractions. Arrogate, the frontrunning, track-record-setting winner of Saratoga's GI Travers S., was conspicuous by his absence in the early going, with jockey Mike Smith opting for stalk mode in third for most of the trip.
“I was really comfortable,” Espinoza told NBC after the race. “He was cruising around on the lead. I thought somebody else was going to go and maybe I'd sit back. But he broke right on the lead, and I said OK I'll just let him run.”
Normally, Espinoza explained, he asks California Chrome for another gear around the three-eighths pole. But with neither Arrogate—nor anyone else—seriously threatening by the midpoint of the far turn, Espinoza waited just a tad longer in the Classic. In his own post-race tactical analysis, “maybe I could have made [a] mistake,” Espinoza conceded.
Yet neither Arrogate's jockey, Mike Smith, nor the colt's trainer, Bob Baffert, interpreted Espinoza's pace decision as an error of judgment.
“I thought there was no chance turning for home that he could catch Chrome, because Chrome is such a great horse,” Baffert said moments after winning his third consecutive Classic (all with 3-year-olds). Asked when he though he had a shot to pass Chrome, with the lightly raced Arrogate, Baffert added, “that last 20 yards. This horse is just learning how to run.”
Or, as Smith put it, “This horse has such stamina for such a young 3-year-old. He's just relentless. He never stops coming at you.”
Smith had been on the losing end of Songbird's narrow loss in the Distaff. In his on-horseback interview by NBC while returning to the winner's circle after the Classic, he was clear about wanting to keep the two races separate in his mind, emphatically stating that Arrogate's sensational win did not take the sting out of Songbird's heart-wrenching defeat.
After the race, Arrogate seemed barely winded as he headed to his home stall at Santa Anita–the same one previously occupied by Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup Classic-winning luminary American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). It is likely that his Classic victory will earn him champion three-year-old honors in the Eclipse Award voting, although a strong case will be made for California Chrome to be voted Horse of the Year.
As for California Chrome's potential storybook ending, he'll likely get one more shot at rewriting his own script: Trainer Art Sherman told NBC after the Classic that the inaugural $12-million GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 28 is “probably going to be his last race before the breeding shed.”
Maybe if we're lucky, Arrogate will join him in Florida to thicken the plot.
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