Both winners in the Saratoga summer season proved that they are the most versatile of the stellar group for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Catholic Boy, surprise winner of the Travers Stakes, is preparing his weapons for the great engagement on Saturday, November 3, although his training program was slowed down by an untimely fever that, apparently, he left behind and is expected to return to the activity this week in Belmont Park.
Yoshida, another unexpected winner of the very rich Woodward, is training 100%. The red has not left the oval of Saratoga and this week will depart to Churchill Downs, where he will continue galloping with the sights set on the star race on the first Saturday of November.
Singular story of these two steeds, who had shown their best skills running on grass track and gave the bell when their mentors sent them to fight on the sand, as those gladiators who drove the crowd to become heroes.
Bill Mott, coach of Yoshida, has a long experience in this type of matches. In the Classic he achieved his first bull’s-eye with the unforgettable Cigar in 1995 and at the dawn of this decade the medal was hung with the sorrel Drosselmeyer, curiously, in the last time the BC was run in Churchill Downs. The ride of the Dominican Joel Rosario was fundamental to the success of Yoshida, however he had to make a change forced by the commitment of Rosario to ride the favorite Accelerate. Now the responsibility will be one of the best whips in New York:
José Ortíz, a prominent figure in all the seasons that have taken place in the Big Apple.
Since we are talking about surprises, we must point out that Discreet Lover has paid dearly for his victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, as he has not recovered from the tremendous effort.
On the other hand, McKenzie, winner of the Pensylvania Derby, remains one of the great hopes along with West Coast, for the coach Bo Baffert.