Matt Brocklebank is our man out in Del Mar at the Breeders' Cup and he rounds up his findings following the post position draw.
Bringing the A-game
I’m a Believer.
A classic single, I think you’ll agree, and the link between The Monkeys' No. 1 hit and this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday night may not be quite as tenuous as you'd first imagine.
Picturing the scene isn’t easy, having touched down in San Diego late on Sunday and spent the intervening hours primarily attempting to adjust a very wonky body-clock, but in 1966 former apprentice jockey Davey Jones and his fellow cheeky bandmates sang together for the very first time in public, right here in Del Mar on a train carriage heading out of town, bound for Los Angeles.
As this grainy youtube clip indicates, they clearly stole the show, which leads us back to the Classic and reigning champ Arrogate, who wore down US heartthrob California Chrome in a pulsating finish 120 miles up the coast 12 months ago.
Larry Collmus' famous call still ringing in my ears, having watched the replay something approaching 25 times on the flight, it was a genuine thrill to finally hear Arrogate's jockey Mike Smith speaking at Monday's draw to help determine just what sort of form the 'Big A' was in returning to defend his crown.
Have two summer Del Mar defeats since winning the Dubai World Cup dented confidence in the camp? Has it been a deliberate ploy to slowly bring him back to the boil for this, the colt’s swansong run before going off to stud?
Smith was keen to shed a little light on the $6million questions: "He's training phenomenal. His work this morning was brilliant, so we're excited, man."
So all that remains to be asked is, am I convinced that Baffert and the team have Arrogate back to form as he bids to become only the second dual Classic winner, at the tail-end of his career, with seemingly plenty to prove at the track?
Not a trace of doubt in my mind.
Morning line odds for defending #BreedersCup Classic Champion, Arrogate, set at 2-1 as he draws post position #1 in the $6M #BC17 Classic. pic.twitter.com/zBmyGyVTT8
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) October 31, 2017
The great barrier relief
By the time you read this you'll probably be aware the Breeders' Cup draw took place in a big white marquee on the beach in Del Mar; that Arrogate was drawn 1 for the Classic, Ribchester 10 in the Mile; and that Lady Aurelia got just about the perfect post position in 3 as she looks to open her Breeders' Cup account at the first time of asking in Saturday's Turf Sprint.
But you can be forgiven for missing the glint in Charlie Appleby's eye when talking about the chances of his two Del Mar contenders - Masar and Wuheida.
Appleby has been quiet across the pond since saddling Outstrip to victory in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at the end of a "surreal" first season in charge at Moulton Paddocks. Plenty of water has passed under the bridge since then, including a significant number of two-year-old winners in particular, but only now the Godolphin man has decided the timing is right to return to the States for another crack at the same race he won at Santa Anita in 2013.
Masar, drawn in 6 for Friday's Juvenile Turf at Monday' post position shindig which featured Bo Derek and little-known former San Diego Chargers line-backer Donnie Edwards, "ticks a lot of the right boxes" and has a "similar profile to Outstrip" according to the man himself, while there were no fears over Filly & Mare Turf hope Wuheida when pressed as to how she's recovered from a minor foot problem that ruled her out of an intended run in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last month.
Appleby looks a man determined to do all he can to protect his unblemished Breeders' Cup record in Del Mar, but another thing that may have been missed is that the trainer's Royal Ascot winner Sound And Silence is set to run on the undercard on Friday afternoon. So it's a relief to now know what my first wager of the week will be.
One from the left field
Racing folk are a superstitious bunch. From lucky heather to favourable undercrackers, if you’ve been around horsemen and punters long enough then you’re likely to have heard it all.
Backing the horse trained, ridden or connected to the first 'racing celeb' you bump into on raceday is another popular pastime.
On arriving in a dusty and overcast Del Mar on Monday, I asked a small group of baseball cap-wearing gents where I might find the media centre and was politely guided to where I wanted to be. Conversation quickly turned to exactly where they’d acquired their flashy, purple caps and why they had ‘Goodyearforroses’ stitched in above the official #BC17 logo.
“Because we own her and we’re hoping to win the Filly & Mare Turf.”
Having spent the past month or so buried in American form books and race replays ahead of my first outing at this extraordinary two-day meeting, I was a little taken aback that the name didn’t immediately register, but a glance at the antepost betting markets once we’d parted company offered a reprieve of sorts given the five-year-old mare in question was generally 40/1 on account of not being expected to make the final cut.
"We’d been sweating on it until this morning so we’re delighted and explains why we've had a couple of drinks already."
Leading the syndicate was Bill Bush Jnr, the “unofficial mayor of Del Mar,” according to one of his friendly chums, who promptly invited us to a Halloween party he'd be hosting on Tuesday night.
“We were just denied by Lady Eli at Santa Anita and she’s a great horse so we’re hopeful. She (Goodyearforroses) had been a bit off in the summer with a foot [injury], but she’s come back bouncing now at the right time."
You'll have to wait for Tuesday's diary to discover whether or not I took up Bush's offer of a good time in downtown Del Mar, but what I can state is that Goodyearforroses is seemingly a little overpriced, despite being handed a wide berth (13).
