Giant Expectations Flips Before Morning Outing

A delay in opening the track for Breeders' Cup horses Oct. 30 at Santa Anita Park caused some crowding by the chute onto the main track, and the anticipation got the better of Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) entrant Giant Expectations. Perhaps spooked by the claustrophobic activity, he reared, then flipped, hitting the ground and tossing exercise rider Eddie Inda.

"It could have been even worse than what did happen," said Giant Expectation's trainer, Peter Eurton. "My horse slammed to the ground and my exercise rider hit his head pretty hard."

The horse recovered and was grabbed by outriders for other Breeders' Cup contenders, but there were a few intense moments for several horsemen on the backstretch. Inda remounted and went to the track with the 6-year-old son of Frost Giant  for his morning exercise. The chestnut was deemed to be fine back at the barn.

"He's OK," Eurton said of Giant Expectations. "He's got a couple of scratches on his hind end that are like little rug burns."

As for the stackup around the entrance, horses of all ages were there with lead ponies, milling about for several minutes. The quarters were extremely tight.

"They didn't say anything about having to wait for 25 minutes," Eurton said. "You wait at the barn, you don't wait out here where it can get so congested. Then you get horses (from trainers) that think it's going to open at 8 o'clock for regular training, so there are more horses there."

Giant Expectations, bred in New York by Sunrise Stables, races for Exline-Border Racing, David Bernsen, Garett Zubok, and Gatto Racing. The 12-1 shot on the morning line is making his third run at the Dirt Mile. He finished sixth behind Battle of Midway in 2017 at Del Mar and fifth behind City of Light  last year at Churchill Downs. He drew the rail and will be ridden by Jose Ortiz in the Nov. 2 race.

Giant Expectations sports a 4-5-4 mark from 22 starts and has earned $1,336,600. He's been in Eurton's barn from the beginning, a maiden special weight start in February 2016.

"He's kind of a hard-luck horse," Eurton said. "He's had days like today. One time I was schooling him in the gate and he flipped over and didn't make the San Antonio (G2). He's very impatient."

In his most recent start, Giant Expectations closed from last to miss catching Catalina Cruiser  by a head in the Aug. 24 Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) at Del Mar.

"The break is everything for him. It always is," Eurton said. "He's got enough speed to be anywhere he wants to be. If I could have my choice between the 1 and the 10 (posts), I'd take the 1 going a mile because I don't care how you break from the 10, you could end up going four or five wide.

"He's got just enough speed to get himself into trouble if that was the case, but in the 1, if he breaks with the field … anything can happen there."

His advantage appears to be of the home-court kind. He's made 10 starts over the main track at Santa Anita and has one win with two seconds and two thirds. The nine other Dirt Mile entrants have a combined four starts on Santa Anita's dirt.

"He handles the racetrack really well; I can't answer that for the rest of them," Eurton said. "If he runs his last race back, he'll be tough."