Weekend Takeaways: Breeders' Cup Dirt mile proves important

The Breeders’ Cup Classic is no doubt the main feature of the championship weekend, but the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile arguably turned out to be the more important race moving forward, as its Top 3 finishers each filled out the superfecta of Saturday's Grade 1, $9 million Pegasus World Cup.

Dirt Mile winner City of Light shined even brighter in the Pegasus in what was his first start over a sloppy track. Stretching to 1 1/8 miles, he romped home by 5 3/4 lengths, leaving racing fans to wonder what he might have accomplished if kept in training in 2019. It's also worth pondering where he could have finished in the Breeders' Cup Classic given his drive to the wire going nine furlongs at Gulfstream Park.

“He’s the horse of a lifetime," trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday, before City of Light began his journey to Lane's End Farm in Kentucky.

Seeking the Soul, the Dirt Mile runner-up, has continued to out-run his odds and did so again when second in the Pegasus at 34-1. The hard-knocking horse finished out his season with four finishes in the money. He won the Ack Ack (G3) at Churchill Downs Sept. 29, rallied in Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 and ran third in the Clark Handicap (G1), a race he won in 2017, only 20 days later. From 24 career starts, he has earned over $2.9 million. 

“He’s a mile-and-a-quarter horse, and he got blocked,” owner and breeder Charles Fipke said. “He was coming on. But still, a mile and a quarter, he’ll have a good chance winning the Dubai World Cup.”

Bravazo, fourth in the Pegasus, is another horse who didn’t skip the big dances last year. He hit the Derby trail early and ran in all three Triple Crown races, even finishing second to Justify in the Preakness. He continued to hit the board in the Haskell Invitational (G1), the Travers Stakes (G1), the Dirt Mile and the Clark. Already back at Oaklawn Park, he could race in lucrative stakes for older horses this spring in Arkansas.

Accelerate loses nothing in defeat

Accelerate, third beaten 7 1/4 lengths in the Pegasus, ran two days after receiving the Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Male. While the performance wasn’t quite the swan song hoped for, Accelerate will still be remembered for his dominant 2018 season. The Pegasus did not diminish his accomplishments. 

Accelerate raced full seasons at ages 3, 4 and 5, then remained in training for the Pegasus at 6. Last year he swept California’s major handicap races – the Santa Anita Handicap (G1), the Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1), the Pacific Classic (G1) and the Awesome Again (G1) – then carried that form to Churchill Downs to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. No horse had ever done that before him.

“We thought he ran a really good race,” trainer John Sadler said after the Pegasus. “It was tough conditions out there today. You saw most of the winners on the dirt all day were in front, so he’s not really a speed horse per say. The winner ran a beautiful race. You have to give him credit. He was the better horse today. But our horse certainly didn’t disgrace himself. We’re headed out to dinner with our heads high.”

Brown quickly backs up third Eclipse Award

Trainer Chad Brown received his third consecutive Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer last week, and he turned around to show why he deserved the award when Bricks and Mortar won the $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf in just his second start off a layoff. 

The son of Giant’s Causeway was away for more than a year recovering from injury. Brown brought him back in an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park Dec. 22, which he won, before running him in the Pegasus Turf. With his other stable stars on break -- the Pegasus Turf wasn't announced as a concept until the fall -- Brown delegated Bricks and Mortar as his Pegasus Turf entry. 

His rivals were plenty seasoned, while Bricks and Mortar only had the allowance under his belt. Brown is not one to be counted out, though, especially on turf. Bettors made Bricks and Mortar the second choice behind Yoshida, and the winner rallied to score by 2 ½ lengths over a yielding turf course.

“Bricks and Mortar came in fresh when I was resting other ones,” Brown said. “Thanks to Seth (Klarman) and Bill (Lawrence), they were game enough to put up a big entry fee and give it a shot. The horse just performed beautifully.”

Midnight Bisou primed for 4-year-old campaign

Midnight Bisou was bet down to 1-5 in Sunday’s Houston Ladies Classic (G3), but the win did not come easy for her. She fanned wide into the first turn, then was taken back to last under jockey Mike Smith. The filly had to close on slow fractions while turning down the middle of the stretch. The 4-year-old filly lengthened her stride late and won by three-quarters of a length. 

“Well, I certainly didn’t mean to cut it quite that close,” Smith said. “First race back, I was really getting forced out in the first turn and was going to have to be six, seven, eight wide the whole time and I was spotting everybody so much weight. I thought, you know, let’s make it a little bit easier on her, and I dropped in behind. By the time I did that, of course, they slowed the pace down.”

The Houston Ladies Classic did not include the type of horse Midnight Bisou tussled with the latter half of 2018, but she certainly looks ready to step back up to the top level after her determined win. Of course, there will be Monomoy to face later in the year. From four races together, Midnight Bisou only beat her in the Cotillion (G1), and the victory came via disqualification. 

Midnight Bisou, who has never been off the board in 12 starts, appears to be ready to butt heads with her division rival again. 

Gray Attempt deserves shot at Derby trail

Oaklawn Park’s Kentucky Derby 2019 trail added a contender who could run in every race of the series last Friday when locally based Gray Attempt won the Smarty Jones Stakes. The mile race was the first time around two turns for the Graydar colt, and the front-running victory convinced trainer Jinks Fires to nominate him for the Triple Crown. The early nomination deadline was a day after the race.

Gray Attempt has now won three consecutive races from four career starts. He’s been the second choice in his last two races, but has yet to go off as the favorite. He defeated Manny Wah and Hog Creek Hustle, with both later hitting the board in the Lecomte Stakes (G3), in the Sugar Bowl Stakes Dec. 22 at Fair Grounds. Then he fended off Remington Springboard Mile winner Long Range Toddy in the Smarty Jones. 

Gray Attempt will get the chance to stretch out an extra sixteenth of a mile in the Feb. 18 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn. There’s still a long ways to go until the May 4 Kentucky Derby, but Gray Attempt has shown he deserves a chance on the trail.