Dr. Schivel streaks toward Breeders' Cup Sprint in style

If you are a regular reader of these pages, you know of my massive respect for Jackie’s Warrior, but after Saturday’s Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2), the gap between him and the second best sprinter has been narrowed, in my estimation. The winning performance of Dr. Schivel was a real eye-opener.

A Breeders’ Cup win-and-you're-in qualifier, the $200,000, 6 furlong race was the final major prep in California for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Not surprisingly, the event drew a solid cast with several prime candidates for the world championships.

Sent off as the 9-5 betting choice, Dr. Schivel came into the race with four straight victories in the last two seasons, including a pair of Grade 1 wins. Drawn a difficult post on the rail, he would need to defeat a field of tough older horses, which included last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, C Z Rocket, if he was going to push his winning streak to five.

The task of the favorite became that much tougher when a rein broke soon after the start. California’s leading rider, Flavien Prat, explained the problem.

“I had just the left rein after we left the chute at around the five and half mark,” said Prat. “It was kind of scary. This has never happened to me before. The horse was very proficient. Everything was normal otherwise. I let the other jock (Abel Cedillo, aboard Vertical Threat) know that I only had one rein and to stay out of the way. Everything worked out great and we got home safely.”

You could see a quick bobble for horse and rider early in the backstretch, but after that it was all Dr. Schivel. Displaying a wonderful bit of horsemanship, Prat remained cool and let the 3-year-old son of Violence do his thing.

Trained by Mark Glatt, Dr. Schivel quickly took over the race and smoothly accelerated away from his competition in the first half of the Santa Anita stretch, leaving multiple graded stakes winners Flagstaff and C Z Rocket to fight it out for second best.

Obviously, his trainer loved what he saw after the broken rein.

“He ran tremendous after that,” said Glatt. “He was still good enough, obviously a very special horse to beat a group like that as handily as he did. We are very confident in him, especially after today’s performance.”

In winning by an easy 3 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:09.44 for the six furlongs, Dr. Schivel raised his career mark to 7: 5-1-1. After running third and then second in his first two career starts last summer at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, respectively, the bay colt has been unstoppable.

Owned by Red Baron’s Barn, Rancho Temescal, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and William A. Branch, Dr. Schivel ended his juvenile season with two sharp wins at Del Mar. In each – a maiden special weight and the Del Mar Futurity (G1) – he easily defeated future graded-stakes winner Spielberg.

Returning after a nine-month layoff, Dr. Schivel overcame a rough trip to win a hard-fought and fast allowance race at Santa Anita in June. Off that, he earned his second big stakes win of his career in the Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar on July 31. In both of those wins, he had to work hard down the lane to secure a victory. Saturday’s win was something different.

Already a two-time Grade 1 winner at the track that will host this year’s Breeders’ Cup, Dr. Schivel has plenty going for him as he approaches the biggest race of his career.

He has the speed to stay close early and then the turn of foot to rapidly run to the leaders. Before Saturday’s performance, we knew he had class and the ability to win in a battle, but now we know he is uniquely talented and only getting better.

In the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, he showed us that he can overcome serious obstacles and still win in absolute style. Only three races into his sophomore season, you would have to think he is in perfect position to run his absolute best five weeks from now at Del Mar.

Things will only get tougher next time for the streaking Dr. Schivel. After Saturday’s performance, though, in which neither an equipment malfunction nor top older sprinters could slow him down, it looks like Jackie’s Warrior is in for a real test in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.