Game On Dude returns to form with unprecedented third Big 'Cap triumph

Game On Dude returns to form with unprecedented third Big

'Cap triumph

Game On Dude left the starting gate as the 7-2 third choice, snapping a

string of 15 straight U.S. starts where he went favored. The betting public

hammered down Breeders' Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man as the 6-5 choice and

champion three-year-old Will Take Charge, the nose runner-up in the Classic,

received plenty of support as the 3-2 second favorite.

Speed ruled the day as Game On Dude advanced from post 7 to challenge for the

lead. After dueling with Hear the Ghost through an opening quarter-mile in :22

4/5, Game On Dude kicked clear on the backstretch to open a 2 1/2-length

advantage through a half-mile in :45 1/5. His rivals attempted to close the gap

on the far turn, but Game On Dude was still clear by a length after six furlongs

in 1:09 1/5.

Mucho Macho Man started to retreat by the top of the stretch, but Will Take

Charge was still trying hard in second as the pacesetter led into the

straightaway. Game On Dude passed the mile mark in 1:32 2/5 with a 1 1/2-length

lead and proved strong all the way to the finish line, comfortably holding his

rival safe the entire way.

"They went fast but he was rockin', he was rollin'. The Dude showed up,"

Baffert said. "Last time (the San Antonio), he wasn't ready...He had to do it

today. I just told Mike Smith, 'When they expect you to be on the lead, you have

to be on the lead. Just let him rip, do his thing and if it happens, it

happens.'"

"I knew he was going to have to run today because they came at me," Smith

added. "But when they came at me he dropped to the ground. When he needs to, he

fires.

"I knew they would have to be better than him today to beat him. Like I've

said before, when he shows up he can run with anybody in the world. We may throw

in a dud every now and then but he makes up for it!"

It was an eight-length gap from Will Take Charge to Blingo, who edged Mucho

Macho Man for third in deep stretch. Hear the Ghost wound up fifth and was

followed by Rousing Sermon, Imperative and American Blend.

"He ran so hard," jockey Luis Saez said of runner-up Will Take Charge. "He's

very good and was in good position all the way. At the half-mile pole, I saw

Game On Dude going so comfortably. My horse still ran good. It's OK."

"It's going to take us some time to figure it out (what happened)," trainer

Kathy Ritvo said of Mucho Macho Man's disappointing effort. "I'm going to watch

it again."

Game On Dude paid $9.60 to win.

Now a 14-time stakes hero, the son of Awesome Again has earned a whopping

$6,163,893 from a 31-16-6-1 record.

Baffert was asked about Game On Dude becoming the first-time three-time

winner of the Big 'Cap:

"To me, it's an emotional win for the horse," the Hall of Fame trainer said.

"It kills me when they knock on him, but we came in here quiet and that's the

way I like to come in. We came in under the radar and we were ready for them."

Game On Dude is owned by Diamond Pride LLC, the nom de course for former New

York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre; the Lanni Family Trust

of the late J. Terrence Lanni; the Mercedes Stable of Ernest Moody and Maria

Mercedes Villa; and Bernie Schiappa.

After garnering his first stakes victory in the 2010 Lone Star Derby, the

dark bay recorded a close fourth in the Belmont Stakes, the final start of his

sophomore campaign. Game On Dude posted his major win the following spring in

the Santa Anita Handicap and went on to capture the Grade 1 Goodwood that fall

before a runner-up finish to Drosselmeyer in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Classic at

Churchill Downs.

In 2012, Game On Dude posted five graded stakes tallies. He skipped the Santa

Anita Handicap in favor of the Dubai World Cup, where he never challenged over

the synthetic Tapeta track, and he sustained his second setback of the season

with a subpar seventh as the 6-5 favorite in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Game on Dude won his first seven starts in 2013, including a sweep of the

three premiere events for older horses in Southern California. In typical

front-running fashion, he captured the Big 'Cap by 7 3/4 lengths, the Hollywood

Gold Cup by a length and the Pacific Classic by 8 1/2 lengths. But nothing went

right for him again in the Breeders' Cup Classic as he weakened to ninth as the

8-5 choice.

Baffert sent him to the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs after the

Breeders' Cup last November and Game On Dude just missed, finishing a head

second to Will Take Charge. But he opened 2014 with an uncharacteristic effort

as the 1-5 favorite in the Grade 2 San Antonio, which led some to question

whether the classy veteran still had it.

"Bob told me to trust him, that I would have a different horse this time,"

Smith said. "He didn't think he had him exactly where he wanted him for the San

Antonio. Bob told me not to be down, that he didn't have him ready. He had him

110 percent today and when it comes to Bob, that's who you want to be riding for

on big days."

Bred in Kentucky by Adena Springs, Game On Dude was a $210,000 Keeneland

September RNA as a yearling in 2008. He is out of the stakes-winning Devil His

Due mare Worldly Pleasure.

Santa Anita drew an excellent crowd of 27,121 for the 77th running of the Big 'Cap.

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com