Breeders’ Cup Still Doesn’t Get the ‘Drift

Although Perfect Drift has beaten Mineshaft and Congaree, two of the best older horses in the country, his trainer still isn’t planning on sending him to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 25.

After Perfect Drift knocked off Congaree on Saturday in the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic Handicap, Johnson repeated what he had said before the race -- he’ll skip the $4-million Breeders’ Cup race. Perfect Drift’s next start probably will be in the $750,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup in suburban Chicago on Sept. 28.

Perfect Drift is a 4-year-old gelding, who’s unable to breed and has none of the residual value that a Breeders’ Cup win could bring to a potential stallion.

Before Perfect Drift’s one-length victory over Congaree, he had beaten Mineshaft in June in the Stephen Foster Handicap. Saturday’s win, at 1 1/8 miles in 1:50 2/5, was Perfect Drift’s fourth in six starts this year and his eighth in 16 starts overall. Perfect Drift’s only losses this year came when Johnson switched him from dirt to grass.

Perfect Drift paid $4.80 as the second choice to Congaree, who was 1-2 and carried 124 pounds, four more than the winner at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

Congaree hadn’t run since winning the Hollywood Gold Cup two months ago.

With Pat Day aboard, Perfect Drift stayed close behind Congaree and made the decisive move at the head of the stretch.

“My horse jumped right into the race,” Day said. “At the five- sixteenths pole, we had Congaree where we wanted him. Sometimes my horse hesitates after he makes the lead, so I wanted to wait before we went to the front.”

Asked about Perfect Drift’s chances if he were to run in the Breeders’ Cup, Day said:

“I think he would be competitive with the older horses. But I get paid to ride him, not to place him.”

Jerry Bailey, who rode Congaree in the Hollywood Gold Cup, had commitments in New York, so Edgar Prado took over at Turfway.

“When the other horse got next to us, I knew we were in trouble,” Prado said.

Prado won two other stakes at Turfway -- the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies with Class Above and the Turfway Breeders’ Cup Stakes with Smok’n Frolic -- but in the race before the Classic, his winning mount Pomeroy was disqualified to third place by the stewards after coming out on The Cliff’s Edge during the stretch run.

Mr. Jester, a 20-1 shot who finished second, was moved up to first and The Cliff’s Edge wound up with second place.

At Belmont Park, Wild Spirit, ridden by Bailey, gave trainer Bobby Frankel his 20th Grade I win of the year with a 3 1/2-length victory over stablemate You in the $300,000 Ruffian Handicap. Frankel is two short of the record for Grade I victories set by Wayne Lukas in 1987.

Frankel said that Wild Spirit, who would cost his ownership a $400,000 supplementary fee, might skip the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, in which last year’s winner, Azeri, will be a heavy favorite.

Wild Spirit’s next start probably will be the $750,000 Beldame at Belmont on Oct. 4. Frankel’s Sightseek, who missed Saturday’s race because of a cough that has been running through his barn, is headed for the Distaff.

Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Volponi, lost for the sixth consecutive time when he finished third, behind Della Francesca and Rouvres, in a grass race, the $200,000 Belmont Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Belmont. Della Francesca, winning his first stake, paid $34.60 for $2.

In other Belmont races, During, winning for the first time since his victory in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park two months ago, paid $15.20 after his victory in the $150,000 Jerome Handicap; and Bauhauser, a 5-1 shot, beat the 1-2 Shine Again in the Floral Park Handicap.

At Arlington Park, Aud paid $32 for winning the $175,000 Pucker Up Stakes. Hail Hillary was second and Julie’s Prize ran third.

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In England, Brian Boru, named after the last king of Ireland, won the world’s oldest race, the $644,360 St. Leger, which was run for the 227th time.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Brian Boru went off the 5-4 favorite and, although in last place with a half-mile to run, beat High Accolade by 1 1/4 lengths at Doncaster.

Ridden by Jamie Spencer for owners Susan and John Magnier, Brian Boru is expected to join his stablemate, High Chaparral, for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 5.

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Disturbingthepeace, who repeated as the winner of the Pat O’Brien Handicap last month at Del Mar, has suffered a sesamoid injury and will be sidelined the rest of the year.