Breeders' Cup Classic notes: Gunnevera 'doing better' than last year

A 4-year-old son of Dialed In, Gunnevera took a leisurely gallop around the Churchill Downs track under exercise rider Victor O’Farrel on Thursday morning while preparing for his second try at the Breeders' Cup Classic.

The Antonio Sano-trained colt finished in a dead heat for fifth with Arrogate in last year’s edition at Del Mar.

“I’m so happy with my horse right now," Sano said. "Last year, it was different. The horse was good, but right now he’s doing better. He’s more mature."

Gunnevera hasn’t won a graded stakes since capturing the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream in February 2017, but he was Grade 1-placed in the Florida Derby and Travers last year and the Pegasus World Cup and Woodward this year.

Gunnevera was forced to race very wide in the Woodward after breaking from the No. 14 post position but closed from 10thin the stretch to finish second, beaten three lengths by Yoshida.

“He’s needs to win a Grade I race,” Sano said. “Maybe, it will be this one.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. has been named to ride the deep-closing colt for the first time Saturday.

Thunder Snow — One day after a strong preparatory four-furlong breeze for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor-trained Thunder Snow cantered one mile on the main track. The multiple Group 1 winner has impressed onlookers this week in the flesh and has his connections confident in a result similar to his gate-to-wire Dubai World Cup victory in March.

“When he worked the week of the World Cup, he worked really very good. He worked like 1:26 in the bridle and it was easy for him. That was scary because he was so good at that time,” bin Suroor said. “Now, he looks brilliant and his work was very, very good. We are looking forward to the race.”

Not known as a particularly good work horse, Thunder Snow has been very tough to beat in a battle — an attribute he may have to call on Saturday when he breaks form the rail post under regular rider Christophe Soumillon.

“He’s not lazy in the race,” bin Suroor clarified. “The horse is tough. It looks to me like he is doing really well and I have some confidence that this horse will run a big race. I hope no more rain will happen on Saturday, but he’s doing really good and improving. He enjoys it here. Even last year, a week before the race, he handled it well here and nothing bothered him.

“He won the Dubai World Cup and now we are looking for him to run a big race on Saturday in the Classic. Sheikh Mohammed decided that this was the plan after the Dubai World Cup, so we gave him a break for almost five months and then started preparing him for the main race, the Classic. We started with him in the (Juddmonte International) in England, where he lost two shoes in the race on the turf. He came back well and we brought him to Belmont in the Jockey Club and he ran a really huge race. And now, we are looking forward to the Classic and to see a really good result from him again.”

Catholic Boy – The 3-year-old son of More Than Ready stood in the starting gate and jogged around the sloppy Churchill Downs track in preparation for an attempt to score his third straight Grade 1 triumph at 1 ¼ miles in Saturday’s Classic. 

The Jonathan Thomas-trained colt broke through with his first Grade 1 in the July 2 Belmont Derby Invitational on turf before going back to back with his win in the Aug. 25 Travers Stakes around Saratoga’s main track. Catholic Boy’s win in the Belmont Derby gave Thomas confidence heading into the Travers, in which the Kentucky-bred colt was asked for early speed leaving the No. 10 post position before pressing the pace and drawing clear by four lengths in the stretch.

“That’s kind of why we changed up tactics with him at Saratoga this summer. Knowing that he could get a mile and a quarter, we were more confident about getting more aggressive and placing him more forwardly and taking races by the scruff of the neck a little bit,” Thomas said. “Sometimes, when horses are going a real route for the first time, people are a little more conservative and ride them to get the trip. That’s not the case here. That’s the one thing I’m not concerned with.”

Javier Castellano has the return mount after going 3-for-3 aboard Catholic Boy, who prepped for the Belmont Derby with a victory in the Pennine Ridge at Belmont.

“At this stage, when you have horses that are numerically a couple points within each other and the way things are drawn, this is going to be a rider and a trip race,” Thomas said. “I think we might look back on this race and find whoever gets the best set up and trip is probably the most likely winner.”

McKinzie/West Coast – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will have a starter in the Classic for the 10th consecutive year Saturday. His two runners have never finished worse than third in a combined 17 starts and each one owns two Grade 1 victories.

Baffert, a two-time Triple Crown winner, is the king of the richest race in the Breeders’ Cup, sitting atop all major statistical divisions. With a record of 20 -3-3-2, he is the leader in starts, wins and purse money earned. His total of $13,864,400 in the Classic is more than double the earnings for the next-closest trainers, Steve Asmussen ($6.25M) and Bill Mott ($6.188M).

Baffert’s three wins came in successive years with 3yos: Bayern (2014); American Pharoah (2015); Arrogate (2016). Last year, he had four runners in the $6 Classic: Collected, second; West Coast, third; Arrogate, DH for fifth; Mubtaahij, eighth.

Gary and Mary West’s West Coast, last year’s 3yo champion, will make his final Breeders’ Cup appearance before heading off to stud in 2019. He returned from a six-month layoff following his second in the Dubai World Cup on March 31 to finish second to Classic morning-line favorite Accelerate in the Awesome Again on Sept. 29 at Santa Anita. He will have a new rider aboard, Hall of Fame member John Velazquez, who is 17-0-3-0 in the Classic.

McKinzie, knocked off the Triple Crown trail by a hock injury in March, returned to competition on Sept. 22, with a victory in the Pennsylvania Derby. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, the leading winner and top-earning rider in Breeders’ Cup history will be up. Smith has four wins in the Classic – his record is 20-4-3-2 – and has the record for earnings in the race: $15.392M. Another victory will move him into a tie with record-holding retired Hall of Fame jockeys Jerry Bailey and Chris McCarron at five.

West Coast and McKinzie galloped  1 ¼ miles on the wet track Thursday morning.

Pavel – Trainer Doug O’Neill said he made an executive decision Thursday morning to just jog Pavel a mile for his exercise. “The track was safe and in good shape,” O’Neill said, “but I just felt jogging was the way to go.

“He’s training well and he’s fit, so it shouldn’t make any difference in his training.”