The horse of the meeting at historic Saratoga could be Horse of the Year.
On closing weekend at the Spa in upstate New York, top-ranked Gun Runner completed a sweep of the track's Grade 1 races for older horses with a powerful effort in the $737,000 Woodward. Notching his third consecutive Grade 1 victory and fourth overall, the Candy Ride colt pranced home by 10 1/4 lengths Saturday, carrying 124 pounds through nine furlongs in 1:47.43 with Florent Geroux aboard. He came off a 5 1/4-length triumph in the Whitney Aug. 5.
Next up is an expected rematch with Arrogate in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 4 at Del Mar in Southern California. Arrogate rallied from last to defeat Gun Runner in March's $10 million Dubai World Cup but has lost two in a row at Del Mar, which hosts the Breeders' Cup for the first time. Arrogate turned back two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome at Santa Anita in last year's Classic.
"This was our last race heading into the Breeders' Cup (Classic) and I thought it went as well as it could have hoped," said Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. "If we can get out to California in good shape we'll hope to finish off the year."
Stablemates Rally Cry finished second and Neolithic third, trainer Todd Pletcher hoping to catch the odds-on favorite on an off day. Jose Ortiz, aboard Neolithic, "let him go" to the lead early but had no reply when Gun Runner surged ahead on the final turn.
"We knew we couldn't just follow Gun Runner around there; that wasn't going to work. We tried that before," Pletcher said. "We thought to go ahead and let Neolithic run to the first turn and Gun Runner was aggressive to secure his spot. I thought Rally Cry (under John Velazquez) got in a good rhythm and fought on hard for second. The winner was just too good."
Gun Runner beat older horses in last year's Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, where this past June he won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap. Last year's Kentucky Derby runner-up, Gun Runner opened his 4-year-old season at Oaklawn Park in February winning the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap.
"Gun Runner is really good. ... he keeps putting big performances together one after another," Pletcher said. "Hats off to him."
Sports on 09/03/2017