Breeders’ Cup Thumbnails

Bill Christine takes a look at the eight races Saturday at Belmont Park:

DISTAFF

Purse--$2 million. Distance--11/8 miles on dirt.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, in the Racing Hall of Fame but winless with 36 Breeders’ Cup starters, is primed to shake this albatross with Flute and five other horses on the card. Frankel might seem like a tough guy, a no-nonsense, fast-talking horseman with a New Yawk accent that reveals his Queens upbringing, but Flute, a talented 3-year-old filly, turns him into a pussycat. He’ll stand next to her, his back to the stall, while Flute munches from her hayrack. “This is the only horse I trust that much to do this,” Frankel said. Two stalls down is Aptitude, another Breeders’ Cup favorite, who’ll run in the Classic. Frankel motions in Aptitude’s direction and says, “I wouldn’t turn my back and get close to him.” Among 12 horses Flute must beat is Spain, last year’s Distaff winner, and Exogenous, who beat Flute and Spain in the Beldame at Belmont on Oct. 6. That result broke up Flute’s three-race win streak, but she had traffic trouble when Exogenous lugged in during the stretch run.

JUVENILE FILLIES

Purse--$1 million. Distance--11/16 miles on dirt.

One key to Frankel’s year, as he concedes, is being in the right place at the right time. You, the favorite in this race, raced twice for trainer Hal Wiggins before being sold to Frankel’s longtime client, Edmund Gann. How much? Frankel won’t say: “It was a bargain, but I don’t want to embarrass the other guy.” Frankel trained You’s sire, You And I. Under Frankel, You is perfect, a narrow victory in the Adirondack at Saratoga and a 61/4-length canter in the Fritzette at Belmont. Among the other contenders are Habibti, undefeated in two starts for trainer Bob Baffert; Bella Bellucci, who’s two for two for Neil Drysdale; and, breaking from the outside in a nine-horse field, Tempera, who finished third, four lengths behind Habibti, in the Del Mar Debutante.

MILE

Purse--$1 million. Surface--Turf.

Frequently won by the horse that gets the best trip, this is traditionally one of the toughest Breeders’ Cup races to handicap, and this running is no exception. Noverre, the morning-line favorite in a field of 13, is an English invader who was second, beaten by stablemate Summoner, at Ascot on Sept. 29. Summoner was supposed to assure an honest pace for a late run by Noverre, but he didn’t stop and won by 11/2 lengths. The winner was still left at home by Sheik Mohammed. Two California-based 5-year-olds, Val Royal and Irish Prize, will be factors, despite drawing outside posts. Val Royal, supplemented into Saturday’s race for $90,000 by owner David Milch, notched a facile win at Santa Anita on Oct. 7. That was only his second start since winning the Del Mar Derby in 1999. Irish Prize won three in a row before running fourth at Woodbine despite a wide trip. With Brahms and Bach in the field, classical-music fanciers don’t have to go far for their hunch exacta.

SPRINT

Purse--$1 million. Distance--6 furlongs on dirt.

Kona Gold, who won the Sprint last year at Churchill Downs, is a 7-year-old gelding who will need a better trip Saturday than he got Wednesday, when he accompanied several horses on a flight from California. There was a stop in Kentucky, and along the way the plane was severely rocked by turbulence. Another of trainer Bruce Headley’s horses took the worst of it, although there were no injuries. “Somebody said it was the worst turbulence they had seen in 50 years,” Headley said. “But Kona wasn’t bothered. Nothing seems to bother him.” Well, in the last race, Swept Overboard bothered him, winning by 21/2 lengths at Santa Anita. Kona Gold, who gave Swept Overboard 11 pounds in that race, will run at equal weights Saturday. The Brahms-Bach crowd will be at the windows for the Irish-bred Mozart, the top sprinter from Europe who has won three in a row and will be running on dirt for the first time. Mick Kinane, who rides the colt, is strangely pessimistic about all five of his Breeders’ Cup mounts.

FILLY & MARE TURF

Purse--$1 million. Distance--11/4 miles on turf.

England’s Lailani never loses. Never. Seven starts this year, seven victories. Seven victories over seven different tracks. The last victory came at Belmont Park a month ago, at the same distance as this stake. But instead of being the best bet of the day, she’s coming in at 3-1. The outside post in a 12-horse battle must be reckoned with. Her rider is Jerry Bailey, who with mounts in all eight races is positioned for a big day. Bailey and Pat Day hold the record for most Breeders’ Cup victories with 11 apiece.

Nobody else has more than eight. Frankel’s hope is Starine, who finished 11/2 lengths behind Lailani last time. Frankel also owns Starine, another example of how everything he touches turns to honey. “I bought her for another client, but then he backed out,” Frankel said. “So now she’s mine.” England’s Legend, who’ll be ridden by Corey Nakatani, has run two solid races: A win at 11/4 miles and a second, three-quarters of a length behind Lailani, in the Flower Bowl on Sept. 29.

JUVENILE

Purse--$1 million. Length--11/16 miles on dirt.

Chris McCarron had a tough choice. On Sept. 1, he won the Hopeful with Came Home at Saratoga. Then on Oct. 6, he won the Lanes End Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland with Siphonic. Both colts are undefeated. “It’s what the game is all about,” McCarron said. “It’s the kind of difficult decisions you love to be in a position to make.” He’s riding Came Home, leaving Siphonic for Bailey. There are two other unbeaten horses in the race, the Irish-based Johannesburg, with six in a row, and Officer, whose fifth consecutive victory was the Champagne at Belmont. If Officer wins, he’ll pay the shortest price of the day. Another contender is Essence Of Dubai, who cost Sheik Mohammed $2.3 million at auction and won the Norfolk at Santa Anita while Came Home stayed in the barn with an injury.

TURF

Purse--$2 million. Distance--11/2 miles on turf.

On Tuesday, this looked like a wide-open race. Then at entry time Wednesday, Sheik Mohammed switched Fantastic Light from the Classic to the Turf, and this race had a heavy 8-5 favorite. Fantastic Light ran fifth in the Turf at Churchill Downs, but he was beaten by only two lengths and had trouble getting through when he was running the hardest. “He was unlucky,” said his jockey, Frankie Dettori, “and he’s a better horse this year.” Dettori is as enthused about his mounts Saturday as Kinane is downbeat. But then, Dettori always shows up that way. He would give Mr. Ed a chance if he rode him. Timboroa--Frankel again--might have been favored if Fantastic Light was not entered. In his last two starts, Timboroa has won the Del Mar Handicap and the Turf Classic at Belmont. Hap, who’ll be ridden by Bailey, has won four of his last five, the only loss a second on a yielding turf in the Arlington Million. The course on Saturday is expected to be firm, the kind that Hap prefers. Mutamam’s first race outside England was a hard-fought victory in the Canadian International, also at 11/2 miles, at Woodbine on Sept. 30.

CLASSIC

Purse--$4 million. Distance--11/4 miles on dirt.

Bettors will wring their hands over Sakhee and Galileo, European grass stars who might be the best horses but are not running over their best surfaces. Sakhee’s Arc de Triomphe-Classic double, if achieved, would be a feat for the ages. One of the questions is how much that 11/2-mile test, run only three weeks ago, left in the 4-year-old colt’s tank. Galileo is trained by Aidan O’Brien, who will try to atone for last year’s heartbreaker, when Kinane got his whip tangled in the reins and Giant’s Causeway lost by a neck to Tiznow. Galileo had won all six of his starts until Fantastic Light beat him by a head in Ireland on Sept. 8. Favored Aptitude obviously has an affinity for the Belmont track. As a 3-year-old, he had had only one career victory, yet ran second to Commendable in the Belmont Stakes. On Oct. 6, he won Belmont’s Jockey Club Gold Cup by 10 lengths. Macho Uno is gunning for an intriguing double: A Juvenile win followed by victory in the Classic. Gary Stevens, who could have ridden Gander, winner at the Meadowlands last month, opted for Macho Uno, who had been ill before his third-place finish in the Ohio Derby. Albert The Great, once invincible at Belmont, has lost his last two starts there, including an embarrassing, far-back fourth-place run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Jorge Chavez, replaced by Stevens that day, has regained the mount.