Game On Dude Earns Big Fig in Big 'Cap

Game On Dude, whose 7 3/4-length win in Saturday’s Santa Anita Handicap broke the record for the biggest margin of victory in Big ’Cap history, was assigned a preliminary 116 Beyer Speed Figure. The 116 matched Game On Dude’s Beyer for his 6 1/2-length triumph in the Grade II San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 3.

Jon White, who makes Santa Anita’s morning line and provides pre-race commentary from the paddock for the track’s simulcast network, notes that Game On Dude’s 116 Big ’Cap Beyer Speed Figure is the highest in the race since 2003.

“Milwaukee Brew also recorded a 116 Beyer when he won his second Big ’Cap in 2003,” White pointed out.

The Beyer Speed Figures for the past 10 Big ’Cap winners: 113 Southern Image in 2004; 107 Rock Hard Ten in 2005; 113 Lava Man in 2006; 109 Lava Man in 2007; 110 Heatseeker in 2008; 103 Einstein in 2009; 104 Misremembered in 2010; 100 Game On Dude in 2011; 105 Ron the Greek in 2012; and 116 Game On Dude in 2013.

“The first published Beyer Speed Figure for the Santa Anita Handicap was in 1990,” White said. “Ruhlmann earned a 118 Beyer when he won the Big ’Cap that year. The biggest Big ’Cap Beyer since the figures were first published in 1990 was 123 by Best Pal in 1992.”