BC vote for Baffert, no surprise

We got spoiled early in the Breeders’ Cup, horse racing’s world championship series, expecting a winner or two from the Triple Crown series to showcase the featured Classic.

Preakness winner Gate Dancer, wearing a hood that might have scared young children, had much to say about the inaugural classic in 1984. Wild Again, that year’s Oaklawn Handicap winner, given one of Pat Day’s greatest rides, had the last word in a stirring race at since-shuttered Hollywood Park.

Ferdinand, one of the last great horses ridden by Bill Shoemaker, beat Alysheba in the 1987 Classic in a Hollywood Park matchup of Kentucky Derby winners. As a 4-year-old, Alysheba won the 1988 Classic in near-darkness at Churchill Downs, while in 1989, Sunday Silence avenged his Belmont Stakes loss to Easy Goer in a genuine classic at Gulfstream Park.

A year later, giving up the mount on Unbridled, Day watched Craig Perret ride the colt to victory in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Carl Nafzger describing the action to owner Frances Genter in an unforgettable TV close-up. In time, Day regained the mount on Unbridled and won the 1990 Classic at Belmont Park, capping the card that champion filly Go for Wand suffered a fatal breakdown in the Distaff.

Stars aplenty, though for every A.P. Indy, whose 1992 Belmont and Classic wins came as no surprise, the main event on Breeders’ Cup day has produced an illogical winner or two. Who saw Arcangues coming in 1993 or Volponi in 2002? Concern won the Classic in the year

(1994) of Holy Bull and Tabasco Cat. The once unbeatable Cigar, counting the 1995 Classic among

16 straight victories, finished third in ‘96 behind Alphabet Soup and that year’s Preakness winner, Louis Quatorze.

They’re bumped the Classic purse to $6 million and if his four horses finish in a certain order today at Del Mar, Bob Baffert might need a wheelbarrow to haul home the cash.

Arrogate is the Hall of Fame trainer’s big gun in the Classic despite the colt’s back-to-back Del Mar losses. Mike Watchmaker of Daily Racing Form, puzzled as the rest of us by the colt’s midseason fade, says if Arrogate runs his “A” race he will win, “and win decisively.” Precocious as they come, like sire Unbridled’s Song, Arrogate can join Tiznow (2000 and ‘01) as the only two-time Classic winners. But should one take a short price on the defending champ?

Stablemate Collected, a fellow 4-year-old, beat Arrogate in August’s mile-and-quarter Pacific Classic at Del Mar. An early-season disappointment at Oaklawn Park in 2016, Collected could control the pace over a surface he knows well. A third Baffert horse, Mubtaahij, might crash the toteboard if he wins while a fourth, West Coast, could give the trainer his fourth straight Classic victory — all with 3-year-olds.

West Coast, whose dam Caressing (trained by Oaklawn regular David Vance) won the

2000 Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs, is the presumptive male 3-year-old champion despite skipping the Triple Crown campaign. In fact, only three starters in the May 6 Kentucky Derby are on the card but in other races. Battle of Midway, third in the Derby, won Friday’s Dirt Mile.

“I think it’s just the individual horse. A lot of horse who run in the Derby don’t do much afterward,” said Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer early in the week. “Battle of Midway ran a good third in the Derby and he came back and since then he’s run in and out. But here at Del Mar he … won (the Shared Belief Aug. 26) by six lengths and that’s why we have him in the Dirt Mile. He’s a horse for the course.”

All these column inches and

Velazquez replacing a then-injured Rosario, finished third in last year’s Distaff at Santa Anita, won dramatically by Beholder against undefeated Songbird. Fipke hoped to run his star in January’s inaugural Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, but a bone chip was detected and she did not race again until June at Churchill Downs.

Forever Unbridled sent Songbird into retirement with her Grade 1 Personal Ensign victory in August at Saratoga, then trained up to the Distaff.

“I’m blessed to be part of this with Chuck,” said Stewart, who trained the winner’s dam, Lemons Forever, to a 2006 Kentucky Oaks upset.

Asked about the jockey switch, Stewart said, “Two great jocks, but all I was focused on was winning this race. Today, Forever Unbridled was the champ.”

Forever Unbridled made the lead in the stretch and clocked a mile and eighth in

1:50.25. She paid $9.40, $5 and

$3.40.

Abel Tasman, with Mike Smith up, likely clinched the

3-year-old filly championship. “She got beat by a really good filly,” said trainer Bob Baffert. “Dallas Stewart had her ready.”