Looking ahead to fall horse racing
The Breeders’ Cup is still more than ten weeks away, but already the anticipation of a Classic showdown between Maximum Security and Tiz the Law is building. Maximum Security solidified his position as arguably the top older horse in training with a three-length victory over an out-classed field Saturday in the Pacific Classic. Tiz the Law was also in the news over the weekend, breezing a bullet five furlongs in :59.47 on the Saratoga main track (fastest of 39 at the distance) as he prepares for the Kentucky Derby a week from Saturday.
The plan for Tiz the Law is to follow the Derby with the Preakness (Oct. 3) and BC Classic (Nov. 7). Should he fail to win the Derby, that plan could conceivably change, at least as far as running in the Preakness is concerned. The next start for Maximum Security has not been officially announced, although Bob Baffert said on Sunday that the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Oct. 10) – a race he won with River Keen in 1999 and Hoppertunity in 2016 – is under consideration.
One of the drawbacks of this year’s drawn-out Triple Crown is that it keeps the best 3-year-olds competing against their own age group longer than they might otherwise. Anecdotally, fewer 3-yearolds these days seem to be running in races open to horses 3&up, although Code of Honor won last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup. A lot of recent 3-year-old Classic runners have made their final pre-Breeders’ Cup starts against their fellow sophomores in the Travers or Pennsylvania Derby, bypassing the 3&up Gold