MARATHON PREVIEW
The Marathon does not attract the cream of the crop in Thoroughbred racing,
but it’s an interesting race because of the broad spectrum of horses entered.
This year’s fifth running of the Marathon will feature a top contender who
has been claimed twice this year; a past winner of the race; dirt and turf
specialists; runners from Europe and South America; a classic-placed 3yo; a
couple of females; and plenty of inexperience at the distance, with eight of the
14 horses making their first start at the 1 ¾-mile trip.
Its competitive nature leads to difficult-to-decipher outcomes, with every
previous Marathon winner leaving the starting gate at odds of least 6-1
including last year’s 41-1 shocker by Afleet Again. There will be plenty of
options to choose from on Saturday.
Worth Repeating, the 5-1 second choice on the morning line, was claimed for
$62,500 in back-to-back starts earlier this year. The 6yo will enter in good
form, easily winning a stakes race in his last start, and captured the 1 ½-mile
Tokyo City at Santa Anita last year. Worth Repeating’s run style only adds to
the appeal – he likes to race on or close to the early lead and Santa Anita is
typically speed-favoring – and front-runners are always dangerous at extended
routes, essentially rating on the lead through slow early fractions while saving
plenty for the end.
Eldaafer will be making his fourth consecutive appearance in the Marathon,
scoring as a 10-1 longshot at Churchill Downs in 2010, and he will enter off a
couple of encouraging performances for trainer Diane Alvarado, easily winning a
1 3/16-mile stakes at Delaware Park prior a good third, beaten less than two
lengths, in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup on October 6. The Gold Cup winner,
Pool Play, will be contesting the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday.
Eldaafer also likes to close to the action and should command plenty of respect
from the betting public.
Multiple Group 1 winner Fame and Glory would be a solid favorite if the race
was contested on turf or the previous synthetic Pro-Ride track, but dirt is a
complete question mark for the 6yo. His pedigree offers little encouragement for
the surface switch and Fame and Glory probably wouldn’t be running in the
Marathon if he captured the British Champions Long Distance Stakes at Ascot on
October 20. He instead finished fifth, which resulted in trainer Aidan O’Brien
making an apparent last-minute change in plans, and Fame and Glory could be over
the top following three consecutive unplaced finishes. The classy veteran will
add blinkers, but the Breeders’ Cup as an afterthought seldom works.
Sense of Purpose, a 5yo mare based in Ireland, looks intriguing for her first
stateside appearance. The Group 3 winner is bred for dirt on her dam side and
will be dropping a lot of weight from her back, carrying 15+ pounds more in
three starts this year than her 123-pound Marathon impost, and trainer Dermot
Weld is very adept at shipping horses to North America for stakes races.
However, no European has finished better than eighth in five previous
Marathons on dirt.
Unlike the Euros, Argentinean Calidoscopio is proven on dirt and the 9yo
horse exits a win in a Group 2 event at 1 9/16 miles. The 1 3/4-mile trip
appears to be right in his wheelhouse for the intriguing invader. Almudena is
also from Argentina, but she’s never raced at the distance and would be a major
surprise here.
Atigun is dropping in class, finishing fourth against a strong field in the
Jockey Club Cup at Belmont Park most recently, and the 3yo colt recorded a close
third in the third leg of the American Triple Crown, the 1 1/2-mile Belmont
Stakes in June. He can’t be dismissed from win consideration. Not Abroad has run
well at longer distances and figures to attract support off an easy stakes win
at Laurel Park. Multiple Grade 2 winner Juniper Pass is known as a turf
performer, but he did capture an off-the-turf, 1 ½-mile stakes last year at
Santa Anita.
The Marathon helps the Breeders’ Cup fill out a 15-race program and won’t be
mistaken for a major race, but it does provide an extreme challenge to
handicappers. Its slogan should be, “Anything can happen.”