Churchill Downs: Zozos wins Ack Ack, may not go to Breeders’ Cup

Louisville, Ky.

Zozos did what he was expected to do Saturday at Churchill Downs. He took the lead at the start. He maintained it. He set a pace that was not blistering. He never faced a serious challenge. He won the Grade 3, $400,000 Ack Ack Stakes.

Now here comes the part that might not have been expected. It was a win-and-you’re-in for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. And Zozos may not go.

“That’s very possible,” trainer Brad Cox said right after the 4-year-old Munnings colt finally got his first graded-stakes win on his fifth try. “We’ll do whatever we think is right for him.”

What does not seem right is a second turn. Where the Ack Ack was a one-turn mile, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will go around two turns at Santa Anita.

“I don’t think,” Cox said when he was asked if Zozos was better at a single turn. “I know.” He said that as much with a big laugh as with a sense that two turns just would not be, well, right for the horse.

Zozos finished second in last year’s Louisiana Derby (G2), 10th in the Kentucky Derby, fifth in this year’s Louisiana Stakes (G3) and fourth last month in the Philip H. Iselin (G3) at Monmouth Park, each around two turns. His last two wins were in minor stakes going a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs and a 1 1/2-turn mile out of the chute at Ellis Park.

“This would be a good year for (the Breeders’ Cup) to be here at Churchill or Belmont or Aqueduct or Gulfstream or a lot of tracks other than Santa Anita or Del Mar,” Cox said. “I mean I love it out there in California. We’ve had success out there, but we’re just going to do what’s right for him.”

The Ack Ack was the right spot for Zozos (3-5) on Saturday. The colt bred in Kentucky by his owners Barry and Joni Butzow broke alertly with jockey Florent Géroux out of post 5 in the seven-horse race. He was pressed early by Caddo River (24-1), who would give way in the turn after early fractions of 23.69 and 47.10 seconds and 1:11.41.

Stage Raider (6-1), a 5-year-old Pioneerof the Nile horse who was a stakes winner last out at Ellis Park, had been lurking inside in third. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. took him three wide out of the turn and tried to force the issue down the stretch. Although he cut the margin from two lengths to one, he was not going to catch Zozos. Neither was Three Technique (4-1), the 6-year-old who Rafael Bejarano rallied from sixth to finish another length back in third.

“It was definitely a tough race,” Stage Raider’s trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “Zozos is an accomplished horse, he’s done a lot in his career, and he had things his way today.”

She meant the pace, which culminated in a winning time of 1:35.32 on a fast track. The 83-degree temperature was unseasonably warm, but the time of the race most certainly was not. It was the slowest running of the Ack Ack in eight years. Not that there was anything wrong with that for Zozos and his connections.

“The way the race shaped and looked on paper, I thought he should get a comfortable lead,” Cox said. “He was, and he was able to finish up strong. This was a good group of horses, and he responded well today.”

After Zozos, Stage Raider and Three Technique (4-1), it was another 5 1/4 lengths back to O Besos (4-1) in fourth followed in order by Caddo River, Seize the Night (22-1) and Skyro (18-1).

Zozos paid $3.54, $2.66 and $2.22; Stage Raider $5.12 and $3.18; and Three Technique $2.76.

If not the Dirt Mile, Zozos theoretically could land in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at six furlongs. Yes, it is only one turn, but it also is a quarter-mile shorter than Zozos has raced since his debut victory in January 2022 at Fair Grounds.

“I’m not sure that he’s a six-furlong horse,” Cox said. “He obviously hasn’t tried that since he broke his maiden that first time. But he’s a good horse. We’ll let him bounce out of this and tell us if he’s ready to jump on a plane and go to California.”

With Elite Power headed into the Sprint and Cody’s Wish into the Dirt Mile, there is not a soft landing for any horse to land in five weeks at Santa Anita let alone a first-time, graded-stakes winner like Zozos.

“There is no easy spot,” Cox said. “It’s the Breeders’ Cup.”

If Zozos does not take the invitation that came with the Ack Ack, it is not transferable. Still, that does not preclude Stage Raider from taking a run at the Dirt Mile.

“We really just have to see with (owners John and Tanya Gunther) what their ultimate goal is with him,” DeVaux said. “We’ll have to see how the numbers come back and how he comes out of it. But he sure acts like he belongs with the top of that group.”

If not the Breeders’ Cup, Cox was not sure what might be next for Zozos, who became a familiar name last year on the Kentucky Derby trail but whose previous biggest victory was the listed, $275,000 Hanshin Stakes this summer at Ellis Park. The Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct in December is a one-turn race that was mentioned as a possibility, even though it was demoted from a Grade 1 to a Grade 2 this year.

“He was able to pick up a Grade 3 today,” Cox said. “I’m not necessarily thinking we have to be in a Grade 1 next time. It obviously would be huge for him if he was able to win a Grade 1, and at some point we’re hoping to give him a shot. We just don’t know if the Breeders’ Cup is the right opportunity.”