Beholder, American Pharoah face more history-defining chances
Legacy is a term more often used with politicians. They are conscious as to how history will view them after they leave office.
In horse racing, legacy is defined by your body of work. The steeper the challenges you climb, the better your legacy is on your resume.
Two horses this weekend — Beholder and American Pharoah — might be taking steps toward defining their legacy.
On Saturday, two-time Eclipse Award champion Beholder will face males for the first time in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Beholder is the 5-2 favorite.
On Sunday, Triple Crown champion American Pharoah is tentatively scheduled to work at Del Mar. Soon after, his trainer, Bob Baffert, will tell us whether he will send the colt to Saratoga for the Travers on Aug. 29.
In horse racing, it’s clear that to build a legacy one must run in races that are well outside one’s comfort zone. Two measures that come to mind are fillies and mares beating males or 3-year-olds beating their elders.
In Pacific Classic history, four females have tried, but none has won: Paseana (1992), Island Fashion (2005), Amani (2012) and Byrama (2013).
Not even Zenyatta tried the Pacific Classic. Her connections pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, twice, as her legacy races. She won one and lost by inches to Blame in a second Classic.
I consider this a good spot for trainer Richard Mandella to try to make history. Beholder is a 5-year-old mare, so her physical and mental being is at a peak.
The nine males Beholder will face are good, but not great, handicap horses. A few of them probably will move on to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
I can hear you now screaming that Bayern (6-1), last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, is in the field. But the caveat is this: His three starts this year have been subpar, for him.
If Bayern returns to top form, as he was in winning the Pennsylvania Derby and Classic last year, he will win Saturday. If this were a craps game instead of a horse race, you will need a hard eight from Bayern.
There are others whose best shot is fast enough to win the Pacific Classic. These include Hoppertunity (5-1), Red Vine (6-1), Catch a Flight (9-2) and Hard Aces (5-1).
If Beholder goes off at odds lower than her 5-2 morning line, than she is an underlay. This will be the hardest test she has faced.
On Sunday, racing fans will be eagerly awaiting for Baffert to give a thumbs up or down to a run in the Travers. Many have called this his legacy race. I am not one of them.
As a Triple Crown champion, he already has climbed Mt. Everest within the division. If American Pharoah ever faces older horses, that will be a legacy race.
Baffert was a guest on the Roger Stein radio show Sunday. He said if American Pharoah does not make the Travers, “he will go to Parx” to run in the Pennsylvania Derby.
Baffert said after the Haskell win that he wanted American Pharoah’s next start also to be against 3-year-olds. Thus, these two stakes are the last remaining tests within the division.
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick