Race choices will determine pace

It’s a quarter-mile longer than the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a quarter-mile shorter than the BC Classic, and when it’s run at Keeneland, it’s not even one full lap around the main track. That makes the $1 million Dirt Mile, to be run Nov. 7, a fit for horses stretching out from one-turn races or shortening up from Triple Crown endeavors. This year, several Dirt Mile candidates figure to be cross-entered when pre-entries are due Oct. 26, keeping the prospective field in flux for now.

As of this week, those most likely to pre-enter one race in addition to the Dirt Mile include Art Collector – who could also pre-enter for the Classic – and Complexity and Vekoma, who are also being considered for the Sprint.

Pre-entries are announced Oct. 28, and a final decision doesn’t need to be made until final entries are due and posts drawn Nov. 2, but as of Wednesday the most likely scenario finds Art Collector and Complexity in the Dirt Mile, and Vekoma in the Sprint.

The decisions of all three, most notably Complexity and Vekoma, are significant in terms of the potential pace in a race limited to 12 runners owing to the short run to the first turn. The race ends at the sixteenth pole over a track 1 1/16 miles in circumference.

Complexity comes off a monster win last weekend in the Kelso, in which he earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 110. He has raced around two turns once previously, and it was a disaster, as he finished 10th of 13 in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill in 2018.

There were legitimate excuses for that performance, most notably emerging from the race, trainer Chad Brown said, with sore shins, which sidelined him until the following June. Complexity owns two victories going one mile, including the Kelso, but still has to answer the two-turn question.

Vekoma has won going two turns, most notably in the 2019 Blue Grass, but all his races this year – including the Met Mile – have been around one turn. Foot issues this summer will necessitate him coming into the Breeders’ Cup off a four-month layoff, making the Sprint appealing.

Vekoma does own a free roll via the Met Mile, one of two Win and You’re In races for the Dirt Mile. The other Win and You’re In for the Dirt Mile is the Pat O’Brien, won by C Z Rocket, who is headed to the Sprint.

Art Collector won this year’s Blue Grass. He may find the class relief of the Dirt Mile appealing compared to going up against a star-studded lineup in the Classic, including several candidates for champion older dirt male and Horse of the Year.

Brad Cox has several candidates for the race, the most intriguing Knicks Go, who got a Beyer figure of 107 with his allowance romp Sunday at Keeneland. Bret Calhoun intends to run both Mr. Money and Silver Dust.

Other leading contenders for the Dirt Mile include Owendale, Pirate’s Punch, Rushie, Sharp Samurai, and War of Will. Pirate’s Punch worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds at the Churchill Downs’s Trackside training facility, several miles east of the track, Wednesday morning for trainer Grant Forster.