Annapolis takes Turf Mile; BC may hinge on weather

Lexington, Ky.

Annapolis built a nice enough record facing nothing but horses his own age. In the final months of his 3-year-old campaign, the War Front colt took on older rivals for the first time Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Keeneland Turf Mile.

To say he won them over would be an understatement.

Stalking a quick, early pace, Annapolis (6-1) found another gear in the stretch and ran away to a 1 1/2-length victory in a stakes-record time of 1:33.29 on firm turf at Keeneland. Make that the firmest of firm.

“We were looking at the weather every day coming up to this one,” said breeder-owner Perry Bass II, 34, whose grandfather Arthur Seeligson Jr. bred and owned 1975 Belmont Stakes winner Avatar. “Like all War Fronts, he wants firm ground.”

Therein lies the rub. If it rains, and if the turf is anything but firm for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 5, will Annapolis accept the invitation he earned with Saturday’s win?

“We’d cross that bridge when we come to it,” Bass said. “At this point it’s almost a disservice to him if we run him on something he doesn’t like.”

Both Bass and trainer Todd Pletcher mentioned how Annapolis began his 2022 season as a 1-2 favorite who finished a disappointing second June 3 in the Penn Mile (G2). That was on a wet course rated soft.

“There’s no question that he was compromised at Penn (National) his first start back,” Pletcher told Horse Racing Nation by phone from New York. “I can’t emphasize enough how deep the ground was that night. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t yielding. It was a bog.”

Annapolis came back July 4 with an emphatic win going a firm mile in the Manila Stakes at Belmont Park. Then he finished second to Nations Pride on Aug. 6 in the Saratoga Derby Invitational (G1) on a course that was wet but still was rated as firm.

“There was a little bit of cut in the ground at Saratoga in that mile-and-three-sixteenths,” Pletcher said. “He handled it pretty well. He gave a good race.”

Last month Annapolis went off as a 1-5 favorite in the Saranac (G3) at Saratoga. He ran off to a 5 1/2-length victory going 1 1/16 miles on firm turf.

“Obviously, we would love firm ground,” Pletcher said about the Breeders’ Cup. “We’ll just have to see how the weather shakes out.”

On a sunny, 61-degree day Saturday, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. kept Annapolis in third place through the first three-quarter miles. He never was more than two lengths at any call behind pacesetter Masen (5-1), who eventually finished sixth after setting early fractions of 23.58, 46.60 and 1:10.01.

After saving ground along the true rail, Ortiz tipped Annapolis outside Masen turning into the stretch, still keeping serious closers Ivar (5-1), Order of Australia (6-1) and Set Piece (13-1) to his right. Ortiz, who has ridden all seven of Annapolis’s races, knew he had something left.

“He gave me a good turn of foot turning for home,” he said. “I know that was a good kick that he gave to me.”

“He was always traveling really well,” Pletcher said. “The fractions were solid, but he seemed to be doing it comfortably. He just kind of had to wait for a moment for some room at the top of the stretch. Once he was able to work his way through there, he finished up great.”

Ivar made up four places in the stretch to finish second, a nose ahead of Order of Australia in third. Set Piece was another neck behind in fourth.

Post-time favorite Santin (3-1) broke poorly, never found his usual forward placing and ended up ninth.

Smooth Like Strait, twice a Grade 1 runner-up this year and second in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Mile, was scratched from the race Saturday morning after he hurt his left, front leg outside his Keeneland stall. “Cut his knee in a bad spot,” trainer Michael McCarthy said in a text message. Because the injury was not serious, McCarthy said he still expected the 5-year-old Midnight Lute horse to make it to the Breeders’ Cup.

For Pletcher, who was shut out back home at Aqueduct on Saturday, it was a good day in absentia at Keeneland. He also won the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) with Forte. Ortiz had that ride, too, one of his three wins on Saturday’s card. Winning with Annapolis facing open company for the first time – and in a top-level race – was especially gratifying for Pletcher.

“We couldn’t be more impressed by a 3-year-old setting a stakes record,” he said. “He’s such a physically imposing horse. We weren’t afraid to step up and run against olders, but it was still great to see.”

While that might be old hat for Pletcher and Ortiz, it was a relatively new experience for Bass. His youthful glow at trackside seemed as bright as the sun setting behind the changing, autumn colors of the Keeneland backstretch.

“To win here, this race, with a 3-year-old that we bred, the stakes record is just a cherry on top,” he said. “The (yellow and orange) silks that we run in are modeled off of (Seeligson’s) silks that he had back in the ’70s. My mom grew up going to the races. ... I grew up coming to Kentucky going to Parrish Hill Farm with Tom and Robin Roach, where we had our marriage then. I fell in love with it, and it was a family thing.

“This is the pinnacle. To breed one and win a race like this is the epitome.”