Danzing Candy tops solid field of 11 in Pat O'Brien

A field of eleven was entered Wednesday in Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes, the last of five Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series events of the summer meeting.

The winner of the 7-furlong Pat O’Brien gains a berth in the $1 million Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile here on Friday, November 3. Previous “Win and You’re In” winners at the meeting were: Stellar Wind (Clement Hirsch/$4 million Longines BC Distaff), Ransom the Moon (Bing Crosby/$1.5 million Twin Spires BC Sprint), Hunt (Del Mar Handicap/$4 million Longines BC Turf) and Collected (TVG Pacific Classic/$6 million BC Classic).

Bob Baffert-trained Danzing Candy, a winner of three straight with the last two being graded stakes, is the likely morning line favorite.

Denman’s Call, winner of the 7-furlong Grade I Triple Bend in March at Santa Anita, will try to bounce back from three subsequent graded stakes tries that didn’t approach the Triple Bend for speed figure numbers or placings.

Only the Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day, run over a track listed as wet-fast, was at the Triple Bend and Pat O’Brien distance.

“The weather at Churchill Downs that day was not on his side,” Leandro Mora, chief assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill said of Denman’s Call Wednesday morning. “We knew he wasn’t going to like the slop.” The 4-year-old son of Northern Afleet finished mid-pack of 14 in a crowded trip.

Most recently, Denman’s Call was sixth of nine in the 6-furlong Crosby on July 29, a race that had its chemistry changed when favored Drefong bolted toward the gap, unseating Mike Smith, and then ran loose with the leading group, making things dicey for closers like Denman’s Call.

“I’d call that a bad luck race,” Mora said. “But seven-eighths is his distance and I have a feeling he’s going to come back and run a big race.”

The field from the rail: Moe Candy (Victor Espinoza), Solid Wager (Martin Pedroza), Mr. Hinx (Drayden Van Dyke), Silent Bird (Kent Desormeaux), Blameitonthelaw (Evin Roman), Kobe’s Back (Flavien Prat), Calculator (Rafael Bejarano), Danzing Candy (Joe Talamo), Home Run Kitten (Brice Blanc), Giant Expectations (Gary Stevens) and Denman’s Call (Tyler Baze).