McCarthy's first Breeders' Cup contenders defy the odds

Michael McCarthy will saddle his first Breeders’ Cup contender next weekend. Then if all goes well, he’ll also send postward his second, third, fourth and fifth starters in the Nov. 2-3 championships at Churchill Downs.

All of this, somehow, from a barn that conditions 30 total horses.

“Everyone else must have been having a very bad year,” McCarthy joked Friday morning at Churchill Downs.

But really, he added, “It’s more or less a case of horses getting good at the right time. I couldn’t be happier about the way they’ve gotten here.”

The West Coast-based trainer arrived to Kentucky earlier than many of his counterparts with the reward rain and temperatures in the high 40s. But McCarthy learned while an assistant to Todd Pletcher from 2002-2013 that when big events are happening at Churchill Downs, get there, bedded down and to work before the crowds roll in.

He’ll “handicap mother nature” when it comes to timing final works for the following:

• Axelrod, a 3-year-old for the Classic, broke his maiden as a claimer but has developed into a graded stakes winner. He was second last time in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and has since welcomed Phoenix Thoroughbreds as a partner.

• City of Light, first preference in the Dirt Mile, can both sprint and route. He’s the only horse this year to beat Accelerate having topped the likely champ in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). He’s got a stud deal already with Lane’s End.

• Paved, a 3-year-old for the Filly & Mare Turf, is a multiple stakes winner you may remember for her Kentucky Derby trail win over the boys in the El Camino Real Derby. She’s done most of her running, however, on the grass.

• Vibrance, a Juvenile Fillies contender, broke her maiden second out by 5 1/4 lengths, then was beaten by likely Breeders’ Cup favorite Bellafina in the Chandelier (G1) after setting the early fractions at Santa Anita.

• Liam the Charmer, a longshot in the Turf, came back in August to win in his first start in nearly a year, then backed up the allowance company score by taking Santa Anita’s John Henry Turf Championship (G2).

The five Breeders’ Cup contenders from McCarthy’s barn, by the way, all involve different sets of clients.

“That is nice,” he said with a smile.

McCarthy said there’s been a steady build to this point, his best year as a trainer. His horses have earned $3.1 million, more than the four years that preceded 2018 combined. City of Light truly kicked things off at the tail end of 2017 when he won the Malibu (G1) on the traditional opening day at Santa Anita Park, Dec. 26.

McCarthy’s Barn 43 at Churchill Downs is one away from Jonathan Thomas, another former Pletcher assistant who trains Classic contender Catholic Boy. They’ll be joined at Churchill soon by Simon Callaghan, another from the Pletcher tree who conditions Bellafina.

The risk of parting from such a large operation is paying off.

“Certainly leaving a job like that — where I was very content — starting on your own, you’re not going to have a lot of the things you’re used to: the action every day, the big races, the this and that,” McCarthy said. “In the back of your mind, if you stick to it things work out to where you eventually get there.”

Five years later, here he is.