Santa Anita Morning Line Maker Jon White has installed a pair of Brad Cox trainees, recent Grade 3 Lukas Classic Stakes winner Knicks Go and top 3-year-old Essential Quality, as the early 5-2 and 3-1 favorites among a list 12 Breeders' Cup Classic hopefuls. To be run on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, the 38th running of the Classic offers a purse of $6 million.
“At this point, I expect Knicks Go to be sent off as the Classic favorite,” said White in his weekly XpressBet.com column. “But I also think it's a pretty close call between Knicks Go and Essential Quality.” A winner of five out of his six starts this year, Godolphin's homebred Essential Quality comes off a win in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on Aug. 28.
“As for Essential Quality, I think there is a chance that he ends up being the favorite when the Classic field breaks from the gate,” White continued. “After all, Essential Quality has been the favorite in every single one of his nine career starts. He's won two of the nation's premier races for 3-year-olds, the Belmont and the Travers. The only time Essential Quality has been defeated, he had a very wide trip and finished (a close) fourth in the Kentucky Derby.”
White also weighed in on a pair of highly regarded sophomores based at Santa Anita—Doug O'Neill's Hot Rod Charlie and Bob Baffert's Kentucky Derby winning Medina Spirit.
“Hot Rod Charlie is going into the Classic off a terrific win in the (Grade 1) Pennsylvania Derby in which he received a 111 Beyer Speed Figure,” said White. “That's the highest Beyer in a race at a mile or longer by a 3-year-old this year. Essential Quality's top Beyer is the 109 he got when he won the Belmont.
“Medina Spirit won Santa Anita's Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes by five lengths last Saturday when facing his elders for the first time. It's certainly to Medina Spirit's credit that he not only clobbered older horses, he beat the winner of this year's Pacific Classic (Tripoli) and Santa Anita Handicap (Idol). He also got a strong 107 Beyer, his best figure yet.”
White, who will be making the morning line for his seventh Breeders' Cup World Championships on Nov. 5 and 6, lists the following 12 horses as his top Classic prospects: Knicks Go (5-2), Essential Quality (3-1), Hot Rod Charlie (5-1), Medina Spirit (6-1), Art Collector (10-1), Max Player (10-1), Maxfield (12-1), Tripoli (15-1), Dr Post (20-1), Happy Saver (20-1), Idol (30-1) and Stilleto Boy (30-1).
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