Of the many stakes run at Santa Anita last weekend and this weekend for Breeders’ Cup contenders, recent history says one race is more likely than the rest to produce a winner in the sport’s championship event in November at Del Mar.
It’s not the $1 million, Grade I California Crown Stakes, won by Subsanador in a three-way photo finish in the richest and most thrilling of six graded races held at the Arcadia track last Saturday and Sunday.
It’s the $300,000, Grade I American Pharoah Stakes, matching seven 2-year-olds in the biggest of seven graded races this Saturday and Sunday.
Horses coming out of the American Pharoah have won five of the past 10 editions of the $2 million, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the race that usually crowns North America’s champion 2-year-old male thoroughbred and an early favorite for the following Kentucky Derby. That number is swelled by some of the high-priced Bob Baffert-trained colts who have dominated the 2- and 3-year-old divisions. But some have come from less obvious sources.
The horse to beat in the American Pharoah on Saturday is McKinzie Street, trained by Tim Yakteen.
“We’re excited. It’s always a fun time of the year,” Yakteen said on the phone from Santa Anita, referring to Breeders’ Cup prep season.
McKinzie Street and jockey Kazushi Kimura finished a tenacious second at 6-1 odds in the Del Mar Futurity, nearly two lengths behind winner Gaming, a Baffert-trained horse who is skipping the American Pharoah. It was a good effort by McKinzie Street, who had to regain his momentum after hitting traffic as he tried to move up from fourth with less than a half-mile to go in the Futurity.
“For a young horse to overcome that and not get discouraged, I think that showed a lot of promise,” Yakteen said. “At least it gave me a lot of hope, to see him re-rally. You like to see in horses that run into adversity, especially in (only) their second start.”
Owners Pierre Amestoy, Leslie Amestoy and Roger K. Beasley bought McKinzie Street for $290,000 at a 2-year-old auction in Florida in April. They owned, and Yakteen trained, the late Practical Move, winner of the 2023 Santa Anita Derby.
Because McKinzie Street is by McKinzie, who won Grade I stakes up to 1 1/8 miles, and has Storm Cat blood through dam Karpathos, Yakteen is confident in the colt’s combination of speed and stamina.
McKinzie Street and Kimura will start from the No. 1 post in the 1 1/16-mile race. Yakteen expects his horse to be close to the lead in the first turn.
“He’s got a great disposition,” Yakteen said. “He’s a cool customer, takes everything in. That’s the way he is on the racetrack as well – you can ask him to go or you can ask him to whoa, and he’s willing to do what you’re asking him to do.”
Even without Gaming, Baffert has three chances in the American Pharoah Stakes, the race he has won 12 times, including with American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner for whom it was renamed in 2018.
Baffert’s Citizen Bull (who’ll have Martin Garcia riding) and Getaway Car (Juan Hernandez) finished third and fourth in the Del Mar Futurity, and Emerald Bay (Antonio Fresu) comes out of a maiden win.
Completing the field are Mischief River (Cesar Ortega), who ran second to Getaway Car in the Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar for trainer James Glenn Jr.; Show of Force (Umberto Rispoli), switching back from turf for Todd Fincher, and Start Mo Up, a long shot for Joe Lejzerowicz.
The American Pharoah is one of three major preps for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Saturday. At Aqueduct, in New York, the $500,000, Grade I Champagne Stakes is headed by Chancer McPatrick (Flavien Prat), trainer Chad Brown’s undefeated Hopeful Stakes winner. At Keeneland, in Kentucky, the $600,000, Grade I Breeders’ Futurity features Ferocious (Luis Saez), Gustavo Delgado’s swift maiden winner who was upset by Chancer McPatrick in the Hopeful.
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The winners, especially ones from big barns, will be among the favorites at the Breeders’ Cup. But fans looking for good bets in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 will scout for promising but less obvious horses in this weekend’s races. Juvenile winners in the past decade include Texas Red, who finished third in the 2014 American Pharoah (then called the FrontRunner) for trainer Keith Desormeaux and 2019 Storm the Court, third in the American Pharoah for Peter Eurton.
Yakteen notes that 2-year-olds “progress at different (rates),” so potential may not be reflected in results.
“It’s always great to see the young talent that’s out there,” he said. “I think that’s an enticing part of our game, to watch these athletes develop. It’s like watching college players go to the pros.”
In McKinzie Street, Yakteen might have the top draft pick after Saturday.
Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at Twitter.com/KevinModesti.
