After three victories in races with collective purses of more than $27 million, Arrogate runs for comparative chump change Saturday at the site of this year's Breeders' Cup.
The champion 4-year-old colt looms as an overwhelming favorite in the Grade 2 $300,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, where the summer racing season began Wednesday and which in early November hosts the Breeders' Cup for the first time. Five rivals were rounded up to face Arrogate, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert entering a second horse, Cat Burglar.
Arrogate carries 126 pounds, spotting his rivals 9 to 11 each, and breaks from post 3 under Hall of Famer Mike Smith. Cat Burglar, with Rafael Bejarano aboard, carries 118 from post 5.
The San Diego is the first of two scheduled preps for Arrogate, both at the surfside track, before a title defense in the Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 4. His next race would be the Grade 1 Pacific Classic Aug. 19, which like the Breeders' Cup Classic is a mile and a quarter.
Baffert said the San Diego's mile and a sixteenth "is not really his distance, but he's ready for a race. He still has to break and there's still racing luck involved. As long as he's healthy and doing well, I just take him there and he always shows us something different."
Third in his April 2016 debut at Los Alamitos in Southern California, Arrogate has taken the racing world by storm with four consecutive Grade 1 or Group 1 victories. After setting a mile-and-quarter track record in the Travers at Saratoga, the Unbridled's Song colt overhauled California Chrome in the stretch to win the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Since turning 4, Arrogate has beaten two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park and rallied from last to beat Gun Runner in the Dubai World Cup overseas.
A gray colt owned by Juddmonte Farms, Arrogate has earned $17,084,600 from eight starts. He moved from Santa Anita to Del Mar on Sunday and, said Baffert, "everything (has been) great so far."
Accelerate (117, Victor Espinoza), El Huerfano (115, Evin Roman), Donworth (116, Mario Gutierrez) and Dalmore (115, Kent Desormeaux) complete the field. Scheduled post time is 8:10 p.m. CT.
Sports on 07/20/2017