MILE PREVIEW
Although the Breeders’ Cup wasn’t going to lure the world’s compelling
unbeatens — Frankel, who is now retired, and Black Caviar, who is resting at
home in Australia — those superstars will be represented by proxy, so to speak,
in the Mile. Frankel’s whipping boy Excelebration and Moonlight Cloud, who
almost shocked Black Caviar at Royal Ascot, will take on the American juggernaut
Wise Dan and 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom in a hotly-anticipated
showdown at Santa Anita.
Excelebration would have an eight-race winning streak, but for running into
the monster named Frankel. Beaten by the world’s top-ranked horse a total of
five times, Excelebration has been runner-up on four of those occasions. When
finally getting away from Frankel, Excelebration has proven to be an exceptional
miler in his own right. He is arguably better than ever at the moment, with
increasingly impressive wins in the Prix Jacques le Marois, a “Win & You’re In”
at Deauville, and Queen Elizabeth II at Ascot in his last pair.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has yet to win the Mile, but he has finished a close
second three times. O’Brien is overdue for a trophy in this race, and
Excelebration is his best chance since he suffered a heartbreaker with champion
Rock of Gibraltar in 2002.
The filly Moonlight Cloud is trained by Freddie Head, who has been involved
in an amazing total of five Mile wins. The rider of two-time champion Miesque
(1987-88), Head went on to train the legendary mare Goldikova to win three
straight Miles (2008-10). Goldikova finished third when seeking a grand slam in
last year’s Mile, and Head would surely like nothing better than to regain the
crown with yet another filly.
Moonlight Cloud has excelled as a sprinter in Europe. Besides coming within a
head of the mighty Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee, she has twice trounced
males in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. Moonlight Cloud, once considered a doubtful
miler, has since handled the increased distance. An unlucky fourth to
Excelebration at Deauville, she scored her first victory at a mile in the Prix
du Moulin, edging Farhh — who had earlier played second fiddle to Frankel.
Excelebration and Moonlight Cloud have the credentials to maintain Europe’s
dominance at Santa Anita. Europeans have won four of the five Miles staged at
Santa Anita, and two of three at Hollywood Park, making it six of eight in
Southern California overall.
But Wise Dan poses a substantial threat to that European dominance, and
depending on what happens in the other Breeders’ Cup races, the versatile
campaigner could put himself into the Horse of the Year discussion with a big
win here.
Far better than the typical American turf miler, Wise Dan has romped in his
last three, including power-packed displays in the Woodbine Mile and Shadwell
Turf Mile. Both of those “Win & You’re In” events have emerged as key preps in
recent years, and in 2011, the Woodbine Mile produced the top two finishers in
the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Wise Dan’s performance at Woodbine is significant for another reason: it ties
in perfectly with the European form of Excelebration. Wise Dan demolished a
useful European shipper in Cityscape, who has finished second to Excelebration
at both Deauville and Ascot. That implies that Wise Dan stacks up against
Excelebration. On the other hand, it can be argued that Excelebration thrashed
Cityscape more easily than ever in his latest, and is on the upgrade himself.
Wise Dan’s trainer Charles Lopresti, who missed on the head-bob with
Turallure in last year’s Mile, hopes for better luck this time.
One of the most intriguing storylines in the Mile is Animal Kingdom, last
year’s Kentucky Derby-winning champion three-year-old who has raced just once in
the past 16 months. Injured in the roughly-run Belmont Stakes in June 2011, the
Team Valor homebred required surgery for a hairline slab fracture. Animal
Kingdom returned to action in a February 18 race over 1 1/16 miles on the
Gulfstream Park turf, where he scored a smooth two-length victory.
Unfortunately, he later developed the beginnings of a stress fracture, unrelated
to his previous injury, and has been sidelined ever since.
Animal Kingdom will be ready to go, or else his connections wouldn’t have him
here, but the flat mile is a tad short for him, especially among world-class
specialists at the distance. There is precedent for a horse running a big race
in the Mile off an even longer layoff: Badge of Silver came back from a 10-month
absence and ran third in the 2006 Mile.
There is likely to be a fast pace in the Mile, courtesy of the speedy
Obviously. Three-for-three since stretching out to a mile, he set a track record
in in the Del Mar Mile and a near-course record in the Arroyo Seco Mile here at
Santa Anita. Obviously stands to benefit from the fact that his most dangerous
pace rival, Little Mike, has opted to run in the Turf instead.
In both the Del Mar and Arroyo Seco Miles, Obviously defeated Mr. Commons, by
a diminishing nose in the former and a more comfortable length in the latter.
Mr. Commons is a son of 2005 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Artie Schiller, who
famously upset Animal Kingdom’s sire, Leroidesanimaux. Trained by John
Shirreffs, who conditioned Zenyatta, Mr. Commons was a solid fifth in last
year’s Mile as a sophomore.
Jeranimo exploded from last to first in the Shoemaker Mile, a “Win & You’re
In” race at Hollywood Park, and he has been freshened since his third behind
Obviously and Mr. Commons in the Del Mar Mile. Although not the most consistent
type, he’s capable of a dynamic late kick.