Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
For Accelerate, diminished Big Cap still a big deal
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Santa Anita Handicap’s purse is smaller this year, and perhaps the field for the $600,000 race includes less star power, but it takes more than a purse cut to erase eight decades of tradition.
“When you talk about the Big Cap, you don’t always talk about the purse size,” trainer John Sadler said. “The Big Cap is still the Big Cap. It is an important race on our calendar, especially for Californians. It’s still a big deal.”
It will be a bigger deal if Accelerate wins his first Grade 1 race Saturday and gives Sadler his first win in the 1 1/4-mile Big Cap, being run for the 81st time. His main rivals are the Bob Baffert-trained Mubtaahij and Hoppertunity.
Baffert has won the Big Cap five times and appreciates its history.
“When I first got here, the Big Cap was the race,” Baffert said. “What did Keith Jackson used to say about the Rose Bowl? ‘The granddaddy of them all.’ The Big Cap used to be the granddaddy. Now, it’s like the nephew.”
No knock, just truth. The Big Cap, a $1 million race for most of the past 30 years, had its purse cut to $750,000 last year and trimmed to $600,000 this year, its smallest purse since 1985 and dwarfed by the $16 million Pegasus World Cup in January at Gulfstream Park and the $10 million Dubai World Cup in late March.
It is still the Big Cap. “It’s still exciting,” Baffert said. “The local people, they come out. They still like the Big Cap.”
Who does not enjoy Big Cap Saturday? The card includes the Grade 1 Triple Bend at seven furlongs, the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on turf, the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-old Kentucky Derby hopefuls, and the $75,000 China Doll Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
Others in the eight-runner Big Cap field are Top of the Game, Prime Attraction, Curlin Road, and Fear the Cowboy. Giant Expectations is cross-entered in the Triple Bend.
Four exit the Grade 2 San Pasqual, which Accelerate won despite breaking slowly and steadying sharply on the backstretch. Prime Attraction finished second despite racing wide. Mubtaahij finished third after setting the pace, which is not his preferred style. Top of the Game did not train as well before that race as he has since then.
Maybe the best horse won the San Pasqual and will win the Big Cap also. That assumes Accelerate can stay 1 1/4 miles.
“That’s his gray spot in this race,” Sadler acknowledged. “His quality is not questioned. He’s in tip-top shape; he’s doing really well. I think we’re in a good spot.”
So is Mubtaahij, who takes off blinkers and is working like a horse ready for a top effort.
“I wasn’t going to run him back in there, but he’s trained really, really well,” Baffert said.
Hoppertunity is at the mercy of pace and track condition.
“He likes a softer track,” Baffert said. “He doesn’t like a hard track, so the rain’s got me a little bit concerned. If we didn’t run him in the Big Cap, he would go to the Dubai World Cup.”
KEY CONTENDERS
Accelerate, by Lookin At Lucky Last 3 Beyers: 101-102-84
◗ His only subpar race was a ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile while compromised by a foot issue. The Big Cap is his best chance to stamp his value as a future stallion. “If you’re going to make a stallion, you need to be a Group 1 winner,” Sadler said.
◗ Accelerate, a three-time graded stakes winner, has won five races and $907,480 from 16 starts. Mubtaahij, by Dubawi Last 3 Beyers: 94-98-92
◗ Mubtaahij does not usually set the pace, but he did last out. “It was sort of a weird-run race,” Baffert said. “He broke, and all of the sudden he was there on the lead. … He got a little tough.”
◗ A blinkers-off equipment change could allow Mubtaahij to relax.
◗ A Grade 1 winner, he has won five races and $4,625,332 from 21 starts.
Hoppertunity, by Any Given Saturday Last 3 Beyers: 101-101-97
◗ He is the oldest in the field at age 7. “He’s just a barn favorite,” Baffert said. “He’s been around so long. And he’s stayed pretty healthy all these years because of his style.”
◗ Hoppertunity is a deep closer, at the mercy of the race flow. “He needs help, he needs pace,” Baffert said.
◗ The Grade 1 winner has won seven races and $4,347,025 from 29 starts.
Top of the Game, by Desert Party Last 3 Beyers: 93-68-94
◗ “The last two races were out of sync, and he didn’t train as well for the San Pasqual,” trainer Vladimir Cerin said. “He’s training really well for this race. The question still remains – can he go a mile and a quarter?”
◗ Top of the Game, 4 for 15 with earnings of $177,765, figures as a contender based on a runaway stakes win at Santa Anita in October.
◗ Cerin is recovering from surgery for a detached retina and will not attend the Big Cap. He will watch the race on television. “I’m going to keep my eye on it,” he cracked.
Giant Expectations, by Frost Giant Last 3 Beyers: 91-106-104
◗ A tepid pace scenario gives him a look. He won the Grade 2 San Antonio on Dec. 6 by leading wire to wire.