Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Alysheba pivotal for McKinzie
Where in the world is McKinzie? This year he’s raced in Saudi Arabia, at Santa Anita, and most recently at Belmont Park, with a victory in the Triple Bend and subpar efforts in the Saudi Cup and Metropolitan Mile, and lately he’s been training at Del Mar. Now he’s at Churchill Downs, defending his title in the Grade 2, $400,000 Alysheba Stakes for older horses on Friday.
That’s where you can find him. But where is he?
Is he as good as he was a year ago? That’s a legitimate question. On his best day, McKinzie is one of the best horses in the world, but his form seems south of that at the moment. Two months out from the Breeders’ Cup, last year’s runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is only the third-ranked older horse in the barn of his trainer, Bob Baffert, who also has Maximum Security and Improbable.
So the Alysheba, race 10 on the 13-race card, could be a pivotal race for McKinzie. He returns to the track where he ran one of the best races of his life in last year’s Alysheba, a 4 3/4-length drubbing of Tom’s d’Etat while recording a Beyer Speed Figure of 109, second highest of his 17-race career. He is favorably weighted, with the conditions giving him a fivepound break (118 to 123) from By My Standards and Mr Freeze, two of his seven rivals in the 1 1/16-mile race. His recent works at Del Mar have been encouraging. His regular rider, Mike Smith, is back aboard for one of only two mounts he has all week at Churchill Downs, the other being Honor A. P. in the Kentucky Derby.
Baffert settled on the Alysheba after scratching McKinzie from the six-furlong Bing Crosby, then entertaining but rejecting the Pat O’Brien, both at Del Mar.
“He ran one of his best races there last year,” Baffert said of Churchill Downs. “He likes that track, the timing was right, and it’s $400,000.”
McKinzie was fifth most recently July 4 in the Met Mile, beaten two lengths by winner Vekoma while blowing two shoes.
“Right front and right hind,” Baffert said. “But I don’t know if that’s an excuse. That race is sort of a puzzle. Mike said he wasn’t acting himself.”
There is no margin for error Friday, because McKinzie takes on the sharp, consistent By My Standards. He won his first three starts of the year, then was second in his last pair, the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs (to Tom’s d’Etat) and the Whitney at Saratoga (to Improbable), in which he got a careerbest Beyer Figure of 103. He is reunited with jockey Gabe Saez, and the intention, trainer Bret Calhoun said, is to put the freerunning horse into the race and utilize his high cruising speed, which is on display every time he breezes.
“The horses who beat him the last two times are very good horses,” Calhoun said. “That being said, the pace last time wasn’t favorable. He got caught behind a slow pace. He stumbled, got away a little tardy, and Improbable got the jump on him. Quality races, but things were a little disadvantageous.”
By My Standards is always an impressive-training horse. He tuned up for this with a halfmile breeze in 46.20 seconds last Friday that was the fastest of 94 at the distance that morning at Churchill Downs.
“He’s coming into this race as good or better than ever,” Calhoun said. “The work the other day was too fast, but he wasn’t rank or anything. He’s just good right now.”
Calhoun doubles up with Silver Dust, a distant third most recently in the Stephen Foster.
Mr Freeze was sixth last time in the Met Mile, and now returns to Churchill Downs, where he is 2 for 3.
Owendale was freshened after finishing fifth in the Stephen Foster. Though he’s a multiple winner around two turns, his best race might have been in the Blame, a one-turn mile at Churchill back in May. He needs a hot pace to help his closing rush, and that’s not a certainty to develop.
Title Ready came off a oneyear layoff to win his last start, an upper-level allowance at Keeneland.
Bodexpress, best known for losing his rider at the start of the 2019 Preakness, could be a pace factor, but his recent form makes reversing his five-race losing streak a challenge.
Hence, winless since September 2018, has been placed in an ambitious spot for his first start in 54 weeks.