by Jeff Lowe
Both the Woodward (G1) and Pacific Classic (G1) Stakes on opposite coasts and different surfaces offered opportunities to identify a leader in the older male division with two months to go before the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), but that leadership role remains vacant.
The Woodward and Pacific Classic were the sixth and seventh Grade 1 race within the division this year, and Rachel Alexandra and Richard’s Kid were the sixth and seventh horses to notch a victory. Einstein (Brz) is the closest thing to a clear-cut contender for the Eclipse Award for champion older male, but he came up a neck short of Richard’s Kid in the Pacific Classic and has now dropped three in a row since consecutive Grade 1 wins in the Santa Anita Handicap and Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1).
Einstein could get one more chance between now and the Breeders’ Cup to convince his new owner, Stronach Stable, to take the expensive risk of making him eligible for the Classic for either $250,000 as a horse of racing age nominee or $750,000 as a 15% supplement.
In holding off Macho Again and Bullsbay in the Woodward, Rachel Alexandra probably ended her season by likely nailing down Horse of the Year honors and extending her dominance to a third division after scoring two Grade 1 wins against three-year-old fillies and two more against three-year-old males.
Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) Stakes winner Summer Bird is the only three-year-old male with two Grade 1 wins over a route of ground on the main track, and he will take on older males for the first time in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) on October 3 at Belmont Park.
Trainer Tim Ice said he is confident the next step five weeks later in the Classic would not be a surface obstacle. Summer Bird was based at Santa Anita prior to his debut last fall with trainer John Sadler, and Sadler told Daily Racing Form that the Birdstone colt did not fare well with the Pro-Ride track there, leading to ankle trouble and eventually the trainer switch to Ice at Oaklawn Park.
Ice said the Pro-Ride was not the issue.
“The fact that he is with me has nothing to do with any filling in ankles or his dislike for the synthetic,” Ice said in an email. “If you look at his works from out there and compare them to his works over the dirt you would see they are almost identical if not a little better out there.”
On the same day Rachel Alexandra electrified Saratoga in the Woodward, Sea The Stars did his part as the star of stars in Europe, notching his fifth Group 1 win of the year in the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes (Ire-G1) at Leopardstown.
The Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) on October 4 at Longchamp would be the natural stage for Sea The Stars to cap his career. His dam, Urban Sea, won the Arc in 1993.
Every step in plotting out Sea The Stars’s season has been tentative because of his preference for firm turf, and the Classic could become the ultimate target if soft turf were to knock him out of the Arc and/or Emirates Airline Champion Stakes (Eng-G1) on October 17 at Newmarket.
Pam Blatz-Murff, senior vice president of Breeders’ Cup operations, is optimistic Sea The Stars will wind up in the Classic.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer