Continuing a trend of favorites and short prices drawing outside at Monday’s Rood & Riddle Breeders’ Cup Post Position Draw, the potent trio of Bob Baffert contenders in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic drew next door to each other in the three widest posts in a loaded field for the 1 1/4-mile test.
Given a slight nod on the morning line at 5-2, Improbable (City Zip) was parked in the eight-hole when pills were pulled. The ‘TDN Rising Star’, who had an up-and-down 3-year-old season, has come into his own at four, scoring three straight Grade I tallies in the Gold Cup S., Whitney S. and Awesome Again S.
One slot to his outside is Baffert’s GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (Into Mischief). The last horse standing for his powerhouse barn in the Run for the Roses after several of Baffert’s top contenders dropped away through the season, Authentic went wire to wire and gamely repelled odds-on favorite Tiz the Law (Constitution) to score. He was then a narrow runner-up to the game Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GI Preakness S.
Widest out is Maximum Security (New Year’s Day). The biggest lightning rod of a horse in recent memory, the Gary and Mary West homebred was famously disqualified from a victory in last year’s GI Kentucky Derby for interference, won a champion 3-year-old statuette and this year’s $20-million Saudi Cup, then was mentioned by name in an indictment of his trainer Jason Servis earlier this year that alleged widespread doping of Servis’s horses. Transferred to Bob Baffert since, he scored in the GII San Diego H. and GI TVG Pacific Classic before finishing a well-beaten second to Improbable in the Awesome Again.
Tiz the Law, victor of the GI Curlin Florida Derby, GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S., seemed well on his way to a divisional title before coming up short in the Derby. Passing on the Preakness, he has trained up to the Classic for Barclay Tagg and drew post two. The only other horse in single digits on the morning-line is Tom’s d’Etat (Blame), who annexed the GII Stephen Foster S. earlier this year.
In the draw for the GI Longines Distaff, champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) took the worst of it, pulling the widest draw in a field of 10 as the 8-5 chalk. Victress of the 2018 Distaff at Churchill, she is set to clash with ascendant sophomore filly Swiss Skydiver (post five) as one of the most anticipated battles of the weekend.
Other notable horses who drew outside posts Monday include Complexity (Maclean’s Music). Made the 2-1 favorite for the GI Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile, the GII Kelso S. winner is in post 10, a highly disadvantageous starting point for a race that will feature an extremely short run before horses bend into the first turn. Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), the 8-5 favorite for the GII Juvenile Turf Sprint, drew widest of all in post 14. Got Stormy (Get Stormy, post 12 in the GI Turf Sprint, 7-2), Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}, post 14 in the GI Sprint, 3-1), and Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}, post 11 in the GI Mile, 4-1) are also in double-digit posts as the morning-line favorites in their respective races.
The shortest-priced favorite of the two days on the morning line is 7-5 Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music), who dodged a bullet in the GI Juvenile draw when pulling post seven while 13 and 14 were still unfilled with just five pills to go.
Overall, 184 horses were entered in the 14 races, seven of which feature overflow fields. The action kicks off Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET with the Juvenile Turf Sprint.
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