If recent form is any tout at all, the 41st running of the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar will come down to an East vs. Midwest confrontation between two talented speedballs with all of five starts between them in 2024.
Less could end up a whole lot more for either Straight No Chaser, winner of the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) Sept. 29 in his second start of the year, or Federal Judge, who dominated a Keeneland field in the Phoenix Stakes (G2) Oct. 4 while making only his third start of 2024.
Straight No Chaser has had nine races spread across three seasons. The son of Speightster was unraced at 2, good at 3, and better at 4 before a 5-year-old campaign this year that finds him atop a tumultuous California sprint scene after his 6 1/4-length scorcher at Santa Anita Park. Dan Blacker trains him for MyRacehorse.
"Obviously, he's had his issues over time, so to have him come right here at the end of the year is very fortunate," Blacker said. "This season especially has required a lot of patience by his owners."
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Blacker described a scenario that included Straight No Chaser being a work or two short for one race, suffering a stumble out of the gate in another, and having a minor glitch that kept him out of the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar July 27.
"He was doing awesome, ready to fire," Blacker said. "Then three days before the race my assistant came back with him from a gallop and said something didn't feel right. So we had to scratch. We had him scanned and everything looked all right. After walking him for a few days he was better. We figured when he was on the track feeling so good he must have knocked himself against the pony."
Straight No Chaser went back to recorded workouts Aug. 25 and has not missed a beat. He will be Blacker's second Breeders' Cup starter after the trainer sent out Hit the Road to an unplaced finish in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
Federal Judge, the race's 3-1 morning-line favorite, disappeared from public view after finishing fourth to Arabian Lion in the 2023 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park. He worked once after that, then needed 10 months before he was working again at the training center of co-owner WinStar Farm. Reunited with the Brad Cox stable, he ran in a pair of Saratoga Race Course allowance events, finishing runner-up in his first start off the layoff and then winning the next, before lighting up the Phoenix by 5 1/2 lengths with a wire-to-wire performance over Nakatomi, who was fresh from winning the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1).
Then again, few would be surprised if the Sprint turns out to be a replay of the Vanderbilt, run at Saratoga July 27. Skelly set the pace in that six-furlong test but could not hold off Nakatomi, who won by 1 1/2 lengths. Nakatomi finished third in the 2023 Sprint to Elite Power and Gunite —either one would be even money in the same race this year—while Skelly has finished first or second in 17 of 18 starts for the Steve Asmussen stable.
Or perhaps the Sprint will turn out to be a six-furlong version of the seven-furlong Forego Stakes (G1) Aug. 24 at Saratoga, in which Gun Pilot , Skelly's stablemate, ran his heart out but was no match for powerful Mullikin. A son of Violence , Mullikin won by 5 3/4 lengths under modest urging from Flavien Prat, who retains the mount for fellow Frenchman Rodolphe Brisset. Prat and Mullikin earlier won the John A. Nerud Stakes (G2), also at seven furlongs.
All three Japanese runners entered in the Sprint pose intriguing possibilities, but none more than the towering Don Frankie. At a reported 1,300-plus pounds, the son of Daiwa Major is reminiscent of the massive, two-time Sprint winner Midnight Lute, who was nimble enough to win the race on a fast track at Santa Anita and in the slop at Monmouth Park.
Don Frankie comes equipped not only with a solid record of eight wins in 17 starts, but also a dose of good California karma as the 5-year-old is out of Weemissfrankie, winner of the 2011 Del Mar Debutante (G1). This season, Don Frankie's best race may have come in March in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) at Meydan Racecourse, when he led an all-star field deep into the stretch before the mysterious longshot Tuz hit the rocket boosters and spurted away. Don Frankie still finished second, ahead of likely Sprint foes Nakatomi and fellow Japanese invader Remake, two-time winner of the Korea Sprint (G3) at Seoul Racecourse.
Raging Torrent enters on a three-race win streak, most recently taking the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) for trainer Doug O'Neill. A five-time Breeders' Cup winner, O'Neill captured the 2006 Sprint with Thor's Echo.
Del Mar, Saturday, November 2, 2024, Race 10Entries: Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Raging Torrent (KY) Antonio Fresu 124 Doug F. O'Neill 10/1 2 2Gun Pilot (KY) Cristian A. Torres 126 Steven M. Asmussen 20/1 3 3Federal Judge (FL) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 126 Brad H. Cox 3/1 4 4Nakatomi (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 126 Wesley A. Ward 6/1 5 5Don Frankie (JPN) Cristian Demuro 126 Takashi Saito 15/1 6 6Bentornato (FL) Luis Saez 124 Jose Francisco D'Angelo 30/1 7 7Meta Max (KY) Akira Sugawara 126 Hideyuki Mori 20/1 8 8Straight No Chaser (KY) John R. Velazquez 126 Dan Blacker 5/1 9 9Remake (JPN) Yuga Kawada 126 Koichi Shintani 8/1 10 10Mullikin (KY) Flavien Prat 126 Rodolphe Brisset 7/2 11 11Skelly (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 126 Steven M. Asmussen 8/1
