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Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic winner Arrogate, a leading contender for Horse of the Year along with California Chrome, is scheduled to kick off his four-year-old campaign in the San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\nBreeders\u2019 Cup Classic winner Arrogate, a leading contender for Horse of the Year along with California Chrome, is scheduled to kick off his four-year-old campaign in the San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert made the decision after the gray son of Unbridled\u2019s Song owned by Juddmonte Farms worked six furlongs Tuesday in a bullet 1:12.20, and entered Arrogate Thursday morning for the Grade II San Pasqual at 1 1\/16 miles. Stablemate Hoffenheim worked with Arrogate Tuesday and was timed in 1:13.60.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really needed the work a week earlier,\u201d Baffert said, referring to Arrogate\u2019s seven furlong drill Dec. 21 in 1:24.80. \u201cHe went really well Tuesday, really easy. The (predicted) rain has me a little bit worried, but I didn\u2019t want to be waiting too long (for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 28 at GulfstreamPark) to put a race into him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe San Pasqual will be his hard work. From here on out with the rain, things are going to be spotty, so you\u2019ve got to go. I want to get a race into him, but it\u2019s not going to be easy. There are some nice horses in there (San Pasqual).\u201d<\/p>\n
Arrogate has won his last five starts including the Classic, in which he handed California Chrome a half-length defeat, ending a six-race winning streak for the popular California-bred son of Lucky Pulpit, himself Horse of the Year in 2014 and also ticketed for the Pegasus.<\/p>\n
The Classic was Arrogate\u2019s fifth straight victory and put him squarely in the mix for Horse of the Year honors, which, if it came to pass, would give Baffert his second straight such achievement, since Triple Crown winner American Pharoah won the award in 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom everything I\u2019ve read, I never see Arrogate mentioned because he was a little late to the party,\u201d said Baffert, who turns 64 on Jan. 13. The Classic was only Arrogate\u2019s second stakes race and his second stakes win, both Grade I\u2019s. He captured the Travers last August by 13 \u00bd lengths. \u201cMaybe I should have started him in the Affirmed Stakes (July 2 at Del Mar).<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia Chrome has been so popular, he\u2019s been good for racing, but I\u2019d rather just prove it on the race track. I knew it would take a super horse to beat Chrome (in the Classic) and that\u2019s why it was so exciting to win that race. What Arrogate did winning the Travers was something else, but we had to see it again to believe it. And when he won the Classic in a style he\u2019s never shown before\u2013we changed his style completely\u2013I really think he would have been more effective up close.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it\u2019s good enough that he won the right race. He beat a really good horse and he beat him here on the square, so to me, of all my Breeders\u2019 Cup races, that\u2019s been the most exciting. I thought he could do it, but you\u2019re not sure until you see it, especially when they turned for home and Chrome was out there getting everything his own way (on the lead).<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought there was no way (Arrogate could win), and when he threw on those afterburners, it was one of the most thrilling victories for me in the last 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The field for the San Pasqual, race eight of nine: Prospect Park, Norberto Arroyo Jr.; Accelerate, Tyler Baze; Dalmore, Kent Desormeaux; Midnight Storm, Rafael Bejarano; and Arrogate, Mike Smith.<\/p>\n
Queen Blossom\u00a0makes U.S. Debut \u00a0in American Oaks<\/strong><\/p>\n Queen Blossom is scheduled to make her United States debut in Saturday\u2019s Grade I, $300,000 American Oaks for three-year-old fillies scheduled for a mile and a quarter on turf.<\/p>\n Trained by Graham Motion, the Irish-bred filly last raced May 11 in her native country.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s trained well coming into this,\u201d said Aimee Dollase, assistant to Motion. \u201cShe\u2019s had two good works here and we\u2019ll see what happens. It\u2019s a tough race but she acts like she\u2019s worked well. She\u2019s been here a little over three weeks, and we\u2019ve got (Joel) Rosario to ride.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosario captured two stakes on opening day before a crowd of 46, 514, the Grade III San Simeon Stakes aboard Bettys Bambino and the Grade I Malibu on Mind Your Biscuits.<\/p>\n The field for the Oaks: Lady Valeur, Rafael Bejarano, 15-1; Stays in Vegas, Flavien Prat, 7-2; Dreamarcher, Luis Contreras, 30-1; How Unusual, Alex Solis, 30-1; Cheekaboo, Mike Smith, 8-1; Sassy Little Lila, Luis Saez, 9-2; Decked Out, Kent Desormeaux, 4-1; Queen Blossom, Joel Rosario, 9-2; Mrs. Norris, Victor Espinoza, 30-1; Sheeza Milky Way, Brice Blanc, 12-1; Dynamic Mizzes K, Corey Nakatani, 30-1; Barleysugar, Tyler Baze,<\/p>\n 12-1; and Mokat, Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1.<\/p>\n Frenzified\u00a0\u2018Doing Well\u2019 for Frankel Stakes<\/strong><\/p>\n Frenzified weakened to fifth after setting the pace in the Grade III Red Carpet Handicap at 1 3\/8 miles on turf at Del Mar Nov. 24.<\/p>\n James Cassidy thinks the four-year-old English-bred daughter of Yeats fares better with a stalking trip, which he hopes unfolds in Saturday\u2019s Grade III Robert J. Frankel Stakes scheduled for 1 1\/8 miles on turf.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s better when she\u2019s not on the lead,\u201d the trainer said. \u201cShe\u2019ll stay close to the pace, though, and she\u2019s doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n As to his memories of Bobby Frankel, who died in 2009 and for whom the race is named, Cassidy said foremost in his mind were the long stories Frankel would tell. \u201cHe was a great guy,\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cI had a pretty good affection for him.\u201d<\/p>\n The Frankel, race four of nine: Sweet Charity, Mike Smith, 6-1; Keri Belle, Nelson Arroyo Jr., 8-1 Frenzified, Santiago Gonzalez, 6-1; Arles, Joel Rosario, 5-2; Pretty Girl, Drayden Van Dyke, 5-1; Ryans Charm, Rafael Bejarano, 4-1; Goodyearforroses, Corey Nakatani, 8-1; and Into The Mystic, Flavien Prat, 6-1.<\/p>\n