It's Our Time will skip Breeders' Cup after 'difficult' Champagne
Trainer Tom Amoss will not point It's Our Time to the Breeders' Cup, but he’s still confident in the summer sensation who finished fourth in the Grade 1 Champagne at Aqueduct on Saturday.
“He ran a lot better than a fourth-place finish,” Amoss told Horse Racing Nation on Wednesday. “He was chasing a horse doing it very, very fast and trying to get to him. You look at that time of less than a minute and eight for six furlongs and you can see how difficult his journey was.”
Napoleon Solo led at every call, setting fractions of 22.53 seconds, 44.24, 1:07.88, 1:20.90 and a final time of 1:34.57 for the one-mile race and winning by 6 1/2 lengths.
It’s Our Time, a son of Not This Time owned by Double Down Horse Racing, debuted in August with a 17 3/4-length win at Saratoga, his only start ahead of the Champagne.
In the Champagne, “the race just ended up being too much for him at this early stage,” Amoss said.
Regarding the decision to bypass the Breeders' Cup, as Daily Racing Form reported, Amoss told HRN, “He just needs to go a little slower with his process. He doesn't need to jump into that arena right now.”
His next start could come at Churchill Downs.
“I think that's probably the biggest possibility,” Amoss said, “but I'm not committed to that.”