Arrogate embarks on road to redemption in Classic
Colt may have paid price for stunning World Cup victory, trainer Baffert tells Marcus Armytage
Arrogate, Arrogate, wherefore art thou, Arrogate? This time a year ago, the Bob Baffert-trained grey colt was at the start of a sequence that would propel him, in the space of three races, to being the record money-winning racehorse, with earnings of more than £13,344,000.
The Travers Stakes was already in the bag and in the next five months he would lower the colours of California Chrome in the Breeders’ Cup Classic before adding the Pegasus Cup and, finally, winning a dramatic Dubai World Cup after being broadsided at the start.
On Saturday, Khalid Abdullah’s four-year-old is back to defend his Classic title, attempting to become only the second horse to win the race twice and restore his reputation before being retired to stud. Yesterday, he certainly looked up for it as he jig-jogged off the track after exercise.
Back in March, then unbeaten in his past seven starts, it would have been unthinkable that Arrogate would not start favourite on Saturday. But the bookmakers prefer Gun Runner, the colt he ran down late on in Dubai, and, in their eyes at least, Arrogate is back where he was coming into this race last year, the underdog.
Since Dubai, nothing has been plain sailing. He was beaten by 15 lengths in the San Diego Handicap in July and by half a length by stablemate Connected in the Pacific Classic in August, both at Del Mar, venue this weekend for the Breeders’ Cup’s $6million [£4.5million] finale.
Perhaps the effort of coming from such a desperate position in the Dubai World Cup took more out of him than just energy and perhaps he just does not like Del Mar, a track where his only victory was a £30,000 claimer. It was the great American trainer Charlie Whittingham who described it as a horse-for-course track. “When they run there, they run like hell or they can’t run at all,” he said.
Arrogate would not be alone in not putting his best foot forward at this notoriously quirky little course; Cigar was 1-10 to break Citation’s mark of 16 consecutive wins in the 1996 Pacific Classic only to be beaten by 3½ lengths by Dare And Go.
“The trip to Dubai probably took more out of him than anyone thought,” Baffert said here yesterday. “He broke flat-footed and I thought it was all over. Then he made that ridiculous run past everybody. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“Running him back here in the San Diego Handicap was a mistake. I thought he was so good he could just gallop round, no effort. I should have stuck to the original plan not to go. At least in the Pacific Classic he tried to run, he just ran out of real estate.
“They also put a new track down and Mike [Smith] said it was riding deep with no bottom, which Arrogate doesn’t like. They say the track has got good since the Pacific Classic, but he needs to be back to his best, that’s for sure.”
Gun Runner apart, the biggest threats to Arrogate are his three stable companions; Collected, unbeaten this season, West Coast, the three-year-old champion-elect with a similar profile to Arrogate a year ago, and the Maktoum-owned Mubtaahij.
“We know what Arrogate is capable of,” said Baffert. “Connected loves this place and I’d put West Coast third in the pecking only because he’s taking on the older horses for the first time, while Mubtaahij always lurks in the bushes. It all depends which one shows up. I just hope one of them wins.”