Marathon. The name invokes images of powerful Greek armies fighting off hordes of Persian invaders. Visions of Pheidippides sprinting from Athens to Sparta seeking reinforcements and assistance, and of Themistocles and Aristides achieving a smashing double envelopment and sending the Persian forces streaming into the sea.
How that has anything to do with a 1 1/2 mile horse race is beyond me, but in an oft-overused saying of our time, “it is what it is.”
This year is of course the inaugural running of the BC Marathon, and we’ve got a field of 9 contenders going in the opening championship race on the Saturday card at Santa Anita. Fairbanks, who was thought to be the controlling speed and potential favorite, is out – leaving us perhaps a muddied picture in a race sure to confuse and confound handicappers such as I.
Let’s keep this one simple. Sixties Icon is now the morning line favorite. Why? Well, he’s run pretty well at this distance over the turf and the school of thought is that turf form translates well to synthetic form. While that can certainly be the case, allow me to once again break out my Lee Corso impression and say “not so fast, my friends!”
Zappa is the horse I think ought to be the morning line favorite, if only because we’ve seen him go this distance on synthetics before (namely with a victory in the Cougar at Del Mar on July 30). His recent form is “darkened” a bit by less than stellar runs in the Pacific Classic (finished 4th) and the Goodwood (finished 7th), but those were at shorter distances. If Zappa can get out to an easy controlling lead like he did in the Cougar, might he wire the field? That may be asking a lot over the Santa Anita Pro-Ride. It’s also possible that Booyah could have something to say about the early pace.
Call me absolutel nuts if you must, but the horse I’m going to chose here as my single selection is Cedar Mountain. Here’s my thinking…Cedar Mountain has shown some versatility running on both the turf and synthetics – plus he’s acclimated to N. America rather well. Looking at his running lines, I’m impressed by the way he “rallies” at the end of races, and think that might translate into exactly the kind of kick needed to pull away here.
Church Service intrigues me a bit as well here. That effort in the Tokyo City at Santa Anita on March 29th is probably good enough to prevail here in the Marathon. Big Booster is another that has a right to be finishing well, but has been on the shelf since July. And of course, there is Delightful Kiss who exits back to back victories including a crucial victory at the 1 1/2 mile distance at Turfway Park on September 6 over Star Plus and Dominican. Wait…did somebody say Dominican? Remember, it was Dominican who nailed Street Sense in the Bluegrass last year over synthetics. Just something to keep in mind.
This is an odd race to start the day with, so I don’t mind throwing out a clunker to open up by taking a shot on Cedar Mountain. Anybody else have any strong opinions on how this might play out? I’m all ears.
Winning a graded stakes race at Ascot isn’t something that can be ignored for Sixties Icon, so he’s at least in the mix.
But put me down as a supporter of Cedar Mountain, besides Drysdale, this is a horse who has won on poly and missed the other by a length.
I’m also going to ABSOLUTELY put Muhannak on my tickets… never out of the money in 7 synth starts, 4 of them being wins, including the last 2! post ratings have improved this year, and i’ll repeat, not only a winner of last 2 on poly, but 3 out of 4 (only loss coming by a half length)!!! All at odds of 6/1 or higher. 1st time lasik, losing significant weight, and well, lets say there are a bunch of angles to see how a bomb may go off to start Bredders Cup Saturday!