Smooth Roller: Unraced Maiden to the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic
Would you call me crazy if I said that an unraced maiden would be running in the Breeders’ Cup Classic only four months later?
You are welcome to call me crazy all you want, but such is the scenario unfolding with the four-year-old gelding, Smooth Roller.
“We’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup, absolutely.” So said veteran trainer Victor Garcia after his charge’s impressive victory in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes yesterday at Santa Anita under Tyler Baze.
The 5 ½-length victory, in which he easily dispatched of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern, before cruising home a stylish winner over the rallying Hoppertunity in 1:48.08, was visually impressive, but still the question remains -- can it possibly be enough foundation to expect success in the ten furlong test at Keeneland?
June 27 - Rallies to win a seven furlong maiden special weight going away.
August 1 - Gamely guts out a nose win in an 8 ½ furlong optional claimer at Del Mar.
August 26 - Finishes fourth, though only beaten just over a length, in the one-mile Harry F. Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar.
That’s it, that’s the list for the Lucky Charm Stable owned gelding. Despite coming in off his only loss, it did not deter his trainer from rolling the dice yesterday. “I expected him to run big,” said Garcia. “He had a lot of trouble in his last race. He was washed out, stumbled from the gate, was four or five wide both turns and only got beat a length and one-quarter.
Going into yesterday’s Awesome Again, his connections knew he was working well, and expected a strong effort. “This is his fourth race and from the very beginning Victor told me he could really run and he proved it,” said Baze. “I worked him last week and ever since I’ve been on him down at Del Mar he’s turned into a monster workhorse in the morning; he really wants to do it. Last week, Victor wasn’t here, he was at the Keeneland Sale. He called and told me to go seven eighths in 1:28. I literally breezed him in 1:25. I called him and told him ‘that’s as easy as he wants to go and he did it the right way.’ “I told him to dress up for Saturday because I’m expecting him to run big and he did.
Big indeed. So big in fact, that on a weekend full of important races, his Beyer speed figure of 111 stands alone as clearly the best. Big enough for his connections to now point to the big one. Garcia has brought one previous horse to the Breeders’ Cup, finishing fourth in the Juvenile Fillies with Approved to Fly back in 1988.
So can this horse who had never even started before June 27 actually win America’s richest race? Only time will tell, but the odds are certainly stacked against Smooth Roller. To put it into historical perspective, the most inexperienced previous winners of the Breeders’ Cup Classic were Tiznow in 2000, and Curlin in 2007. Both of those colts were able to win the Classic in their first season of racing, but while Smooth Roller only has four lifetime starts as racing experience, both of those future Hall of Famers had run eight times before tasting Breeders’ Cup glory.