by Jeff Lowe
Summer Bird’s strong victory in the Shadwell Travers Stakes (G1) cleared up the Eclipse Award race for champion three-year-old male, at least for the moment, but its impact on the complexion of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) is tougher to decipher.
The Birdstone colt took a while to adjust to the surface at Belmont Park prior to his victory in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and to the Saratoga main track before his breakthrough performance in the Travers. Trainer Tim Ice described his first workouts at both venues as subpar.
Since Summer Bird is proven on dirt and at Belmont, Ice and owners Doctors Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman will have good reason to target the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) on October 3 rather than the Goodwood Stakes (G1) on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita Park a week later.
Staying on the East Coast for the final prep may not help Summer Bird’s chances in the Breeders’ Cup, although even then, he would have about a month of training at Santa Anita to adjust before the Classic on November 7.
As Curlin displayed most prominently last year, a seamless transition is no sure bet, especially if you consider how Summer Bird fared in Southern California as a two-year-old.
The Jayaramans originally sent Summer Bird to trainer John Sadler’s Santa Anita barn last fall. He posted a long string of workouts there but encountered ankle issues, according to Kalarikkal Jayaraman. He also convinced Sadler that he was not at his best on synthetic tracks.
“He had filling everywhere, and basically we decided to get him out of there,” Sadler told Daily Racing Form in June.
Summer Bird joined Ice at Oaklawn Park in January and was on the Triple Crown trail within two months, finishing third behind Papa Clem and Old Fashioned in the Arkansas Derby (G2) in his stakes debut and sixth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) in his fourth career start.
Mine That Bird, the upset Derby winner, will probably take the opposite path to the Classic after being pulled from the Travers following throat surgery.
The Birdstone gelding will return to the Pro-Ride surface and face older males for the first time in the Goodwood. He will have plenty of time to acclimate this time, in stark contrast to his hurried preparation for last year’s Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), in which he finished last of 12.
Jeff Lowe is staff writer of Thoroughbred Times