When the Breeders’ Cup added the Dust Mile (G1) to its menu of stakes in 2007, there was a standard one-word response.
Why?
With most of the venues that host the World Championships unable to supply a one-turn, eight-furlong race, the Dust Mile appeared like a shorter, youthful brother to the centerpiece 1 1/4-mile Breeders’ Cup Traditional (G1).
Lately, if the Longines Traditional is Peyton Manning, then the Huge Ass Followers Dust Mile might be Eli Manning with these two Tremendous Bowl rings.
Whereas the Dust Mile won’t ever match the glamour and significance of the Traditional, on this period it has turn out to be a extremely viable path to riches and success within the following yr and served as a race to showcase horses with the potential to sooner or later emerge as a top-flight stallion.
“Completely, the Dust Mile is likely one of the finest races on the Breeders’ Cup card,” mentioned Elliott Walden, CEO, president, and racing supervisor for WinStar Farm. “It is also a really priceless race to assist horses’ stallion careers. It is a stallion-making race.”
Going again to 2013, the Dust Mile has certainly attracted a bevy of starters who’ve been turn out to be extremely coveted sires. You can begin with Goldencents , the 2013-14 winner, then came fields that included Liam’s Map , Gun Runner , Runhappy , Practical Joke , Accelerate , City of Light , Omaha Beach , Improbable , War of Will , and Knicks Go .
“The Dirt Mile hasn’t been around for a long time, but with just a small number of runnings it has produced some very good stallions,” said seven-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher, the sport’s all-time leader in earnings. “Milers are traditionally great stallions who can pass along their speed in their genes.”
As valuable as the Dirt Mile can be for a colt’s future life at stud, these days it can also serve as a bridge to bigger and better things in the following year.
Back in 2007, the racing season for most older horses ended with the Classic and resumed in the spring. One or two of the better horses planning to stick around at the races for another year might have targeted the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1). But for the rest, when the horses crossed the finish line in the Classic, it meant those headed to stud would be retired with the rest given time off for a few months.
Yet now, with the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) in late January, the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) a month later, and the $12 million Dubai World Cup in late March, the Dirt Mile is a perfect stepping stone to the Pegasus or Saudi Cup, both of which are contested at 1 1/8 miles, especially for late developing horses or those who missed a large portion of the year due to an injury.
“In the old days, you culminated with the Breeders’ Cup Classic and then worked backward from the next Classic,” Walden said. “Now there’s big opportunities in the winter and spring, and you see where you fit in. Sometimes, by running in the Dirt Mile, you can get your horse ready for one of the big races at the start of the year.”
Already, the aforementioned group of Dirt Mile alums have produced three of the five Pegasus wins, courtesy of Gun Runner, City of Light, and Knicks Go.
There could be a fourth in 2022, provided the heavy favorite in the Nov. 6 edition at Del Mar lives up to his lofty expectations.
In WinStar Farm and China Horse Club’s Life Is Good , the Dirt Mile has an odds-on favorite who seems quite capable of huge things in 2022.
This past winter, the son of Into Mischief was considered the top 3-year-old prospect in trainer Bob Baffert’s barn. But after a smashing eight-length victory over stablemate Medina Spirit in the March 6 San Felipe Stakes (G2) that boosted his record to a perfect 3-for-3, he developed knee chips and was knocked off the Triple Crown trail.
While Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), Life Is Good spent nearly six months away from the races until he was shifted to Pletcher’s barn in New York and finished a game second to Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) favorite Jackie’s Warrior in the Aug. 28 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1), a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course.
The Jerkens might have been Life Is Good’s first and solely loss, but it additionally gained over new followers for the 3-year-old by way of the way in which he was handed within the stretch by a extra seasoned a number of grade 1 winner then dug down and battled again within the ultimate furlong to lose by solely a neck.
“Clearly we have been hoping that we may win, however I believe from a repute standpoint, he did not lose something in defeat,” Walden mentioned. “So many individuals got here as much as me and instructed me what an amazing race he ran off the layoff. We have been disillusioned in dropping, however not disillusioned within the horse. He misplaced to an excellent horse who was primed for the gap. We felt seven furlongs was the appropriate distance to deliver him again and he ran nice. He went (:21.97) and (:44.16) on the entrance finish and was digging in on the finish.”
After the Jerkens, the plan grew to become working towards older foes within the Kelso Handicap (G2), which he gained by 5 1/2 lengths, adopted by the Dust Mile.
“Once we ran him within the Jerkens, we needed to resolve whether or not to run him a mile-and-an-eighth subsequent and level to the Traditional, or take an incremental step to the Dust Mile,” Walden mentioned. “The choice to run within the Dust Mile was truly made earlier than we ran within the Kelso.”
For Pletcher, that path made excellent sense. By not forcing the difficulty and going through the most effective dust horses on the earth within the Traditional, he’s giving Life Is Good another alternative to strengthen his basis earlier than the $539,200 earner strikes on to the wealthy grade/group 1 2022 exams, offered all goes effectively Saturday.
“I believe he’ll stretch out farther than a mile,” Pletcher mentioned in regards to the $525,000 buy from the Paramount Gross sales consignment on the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “He is a horse who has basic potential. Sadly, as a result of he had all that point off in the course of the yr, he is just a bit bit delayed and can be giving up a whole lot of seasoning to some good horses (within the Traditional). However all the pieces he does in his coaching signifies that he’ll run that far.”
Certainly what Pletcher and Walden have seen within the mornings for the reason that Sept. 25 Kelso have solely added credence to their perception that the affected person route was certainly the most effective one for the colt bred by Gary and Mary West Stables out of the Distorted Humor mare Beach Walk.
“He’s an extremely talented horse and we’re excited to see him run. I put him up there with the best horses I’ve been around, including (2018 Triple Crown winner) Justify ,” Walden said. “I talked to Todd about him the other day, and Todd is not one to really boast about his own horses, and I asked how good is this horse and he said he’s in the top 1/10th of 1%. He’s elite. He’s a true athlete. He moves effortlessly. You don’t know how fast he is and he gallops out with great energy. We just hope he puts it all together on Breeders’ Cup Day.”
Of course, the year was not without drama aside from the injury that ended his Triple Crown chances.
After Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby, a pair of drug tests revealed a banned substance in the colt’s system. Though the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has yet to make a final ruling as it awaits the result of a third test, Baffert was barred from racing at Churchill Downs and New York Racing Affiliation tracks. Baffert went to federal court docket and had the NYRA suspension lifted July 14, however by then Walden had already determined to ship Life Is Good to Pletcher so the colt may run in New York.
“It’s important to make selections as they arrive up. We have now the utmost respect for Bob Baffert. He is accomplished an amazing job for us and we felt on the time after we made the choice there was a restriction on him in New York, and we needed to come back again within the Jerkens, so we did what we did,” Walden mentioned. “We’re good mates at the moment and Bob nonetheless roots for Life Is Good.”
Baffert has a Dust Mile starter of his personal in 10-1 shot Eight Rings . He’s already a grade 1 winner and, yes, he has a stallion deal in place with Coolmore’s Ashford Stud.
He’s a perfect fit for the Dirt Mile.
