Champion Game Winner to Race as a 4-Year-Old

After a frustrating 2019 campaign at 3 filled with setbacks, 2018 Eclipse Award winner Game Winner will be returning next year for his 4-year-old season.

Owner Gary West said Oct. 22 that while a stallion deal is in the works for the son of Candy Ride , Game Winner will be pointed toward a 2020 campaign with trainer Bob Baffert.

"We're going to race the horse, but we're going to give him plenty of time off," said West, who races with his wife under the banner of Gary and Mary West. "We're going to be in no hurry to bring him back. We will definitely race him at 4. He is not going to the stallion barn next year. I don't know if that's the best business decision, but it's what we're going to do."

Game Winner has not raced since July 13 when he won the Los Alamitos Derby (G3), his first victory in four starts as a 3-year-old.

"I think it's great," Baffert said. "We just couldn't get him to 100 percent this year and Gary wants to enjoy watching his horses run."

West said there's no timetable for Game Winner's return but he would not be surprised if it does not happen until the spring, making the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) unlikely destinations.

"There are a lot of grade 1s around for older horses so he's going to get a much later start. It's up to Bob Baffert, my racing manager (Ben Glass), my own veterinarian and other vets to make the decision on when he's fully rested and everything is squared away with any problems he has," he said. "There's no time frame in mind but if he doesn't race until April or May that's not a problem. I don't see any way he could make the Pegasus and going over to the Dubai World Cup without a prep race would be not very smart in my opinion."

West added that future plans for Maximum Security, who was disqualified from first to 17th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), would be determined after his Oct. 26 start for trainer Jason Servis in the $200,000 Bold Ruler Handicap (G3) at Belmont Park. The Wests also own him.

West confirmed that Maximum Security will also run at 4, and noted if the multiple grade 1 winner runs well Saturday that either the Clark Handicap (G1) Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs or the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack are possibilities for the homebred son of New Year's Day's next start. The $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 25 would be a likely major target beyond that.

"He's won four races at Gulfstream Park so we know he likes that track and if he keeps moving forward in his next two races that would be the logical spot for him," West said.

Maximum Security started his career with three victories at Gulfstream by a combined 34 ½  lengths and then captured the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) there by 3 ½ lengths. He has not raced since taking the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) July 20.

Game Winner started 2019 with runner-up finishes in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and then the Santa Anita Derby (G1). He was then moved up to fifth in the Kentucky Derby, but came out of the 1 1/4-mile classic with a sore back and was given two months off before returning in the Los Al Derby. He was on course to race in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course but came down with a virus and missed the race.

A three-time grade 1 winner, he was undefeated in four starts at 2, and capped the year with a victory in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) en route to being voted the champion 2-year-old male of 2018.

Bred by Summer Wind Equine out of the A.P. Indy mare Indyan Giving, Game Winner has earned $2,027,500. He was bought by Glass, as an agent, for $110,000 from the Lane's End consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale.