Zipse: Elite Power rules, but he faces competition

Suddenly the male sprint division is heating up. Elite Power is the defending champion and has done absolutely nothing wrong in his pursuit of a second consecutive Eclipse Award. In fact, he’s been better than that. But there is competition to the throne.

Elite Power used his patented late run Saturday afternoon to win the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap over a sloppy and sealed main track at Saratoga. The victory was the 5-year-old’s eighth consecutive win, a streak that began with an impressive maiden victory at Churchill Downs last June.

Trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., the son of two-time horse of the year Curlin looked good doing it Saturday, with his massive stride and irresistible finishing kick, but this one was not easy.

The race favorite had to work hard because of Gunite, who also ran big, as expected. Together, the two put on a show on a rainy Saturday at the Spa.

With Gunite getting first run on the early leader, it was up to Elite Power to run him down. The two top older sprinters threw down in deep stretch for an epic finish.

As well as the Steve Asmussen-trained challenger ran, it took a special performance on Saturday for any horse to beat him, and that is exactly what Elite Power delivered.

Forging to the lead late, he nipped his rival by a head in racehorse time of 1:09.22 for the six furlongs. Highlighting the quality of the top two was seeing the very good sprinter Dean Delivers well back in the rearview mirror in third.

Did the narrowness of victory for the champion show a nick in the armor? I would answer that with a fairly emphatic “No”, but the opposition for another victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and a second Eclipse award championship are looking stronger all the time.

Not only is Gunite, one year his junior and still improving, a serious threat to Elite Power's throne, but there are others.

A winner at Keeneland last year, Elite Power will have to travel west this time around for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The big race will be run at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 4, giving the California horses the home track advantage.

Amazingly, Elite Power is not the only Grade 1 winning older sprinter on an eight-race win streak. 

Surely the winning streak of The Chosen Vron cannot match that of the defending champion stylistically or from a class perspective. But after Saturday’s victory in the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar, he must be respected as a formidable contender, especially given the location of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.

Trained by Eric Kruljac, who also is a co-owner and co-breeder of the millionaire, The Chosen Vron was once thought of as a very nice California-bred. The 5-year-old son of Vronsky is now proving to be more than that.

Not only did he beat a deep and solid field in the Bing Crosby, but he overcame checking sharply on the turn to do it. He also once again demonstrated his strong desire to defeat his competition by gamely outfinishing talented rivals in a three-horse scrum to the wire.

Like Elite Power, The Chosen Vron now has won eight straight and is heading to the first Saturday in November on a serious roll. A winner of 13 of 17 overall, he must be respected.

Others on the Breeders’ Cup Sprint trail also impressed this weekend. One day earlier at Saratoga, the 3-year-old New York Thunder made quite a statement.

Unbeaten and impressive in three career starts coming in, the Jorge Delgado-trained son of Nyquist faced a series of questions Friday. In the Amsterdam Stakes (G2) he ran on dirt for the first time in his initial attempt against graded-stakes company, and he did it on the big stage of Saratoga.

Let’s just say he passed the test with flying colors. The speedster ran his talented competition off their feet and rolled to a 7 1/2-length statement victory. Setting blazing fractions along the way, the kind of speed that New York Thunder displayed on Friday is both rare and dangerous, no matter the competition.

Elite Power was everything we expected in his Vanderbilt victory. He is a true champion. But this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint will not be without challenges for him. His challengers are looking stronger all the time.