BackTrack: Lure Repeats in Breeders' Cup Mile

All week long, trainer Bobby Frankel said, "Whoever beats Lure will win the Mile."

One sentence. One truism.

No more quotes. No more anaylsis.

No need to look at race strategy. No need to handicap. No need to worry about the condition of the turf course.

Pure and simple, Frankel said repeatedly. "Whoever beats Lure will win the Mile."

Frankel was exactly right. Only problem was, neither Frankel's filly Toussaud, nor any other horse on this planet, can beat Lure at a mile. 

Since Claiborne Farm's Danzig colt won last year's Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) at Gulfstream Park in course record time by an easy three lengths, no horse has been within clucking distance of him at his distance.

Lure's connections would still like to see him win at 1 1/4 miles, and, while there appears no logical reason why he can't, the plain fact is no matter what he might be able to do at 10 furlongs, at eight to nine furlongs he is simply unbeatable.

In 11 lifetime starts on the grass, Lure has won eight times. In the other three, he has finished second—in just his second grass start, on soft ground, to a peaking Roman Envoy, and twice (at 1 1/4 and 1 3/16 miles), to the best 10-furlong grass horse in training, Star of Cozzene.

With Kotashaan's victory later on Breeders' Cup Day in the Turf (gr. IT), it seems almost certain that whoever is voted the Eclipse Award for champion turf male will also be named Horse of the Year, which hasn't happened since John Henry earned his second Horse of the Year title in 1984. 

"That question is for the voters to decide," Seth Hancock, who runs his family's Claiborne Farm, said when asked about Lure's Horse of the Year chances. Hancock has a rooting interest in both horses because Richard Mandella, who conditions Kotashaan, is Claiborne's West Coast trainer. 

In fact, Mandella closed out his storybook Breeders' Cup Day (four stakes wins from four starters) by sending out Claiborne's Region to win the Skywalker Handicap. 

"I'll be happy for Dick if Kotashaan wins (Horse of the Year), happy for us if Lure wins," Hancock said.

Lure's trainer, Shug McGaughey, was also diplomatic when asked about championship honors, saying, "Sometimes he (Lure) doesn't get the respect he deserves. All I know is he's an amazing horse."

McGaughey was confident about Lure's chances to become only the third repeat Breeders' Cup winner, especially after the Danzig colt worked a half-mile in :49 over the Santa Anita turf course—with the rail 30 feet out and the dogs up—two days prior to the race. 

"I could hear his feet rattling as he worked over it," the 42-year-old trainer said. "I knew he liked it."

That answered one question: whether or not Lure would like the sandy-based Santa Anita grass course which has received much criticism for its texture and looseness.

The other unanswered question: how well he would do from an outside post position in a race with a short run to the first turn, could only be determined on race day. 

Lure answered that in typical fashion. Though he showed a new dimension in his last two starts before the Mile by taking back off the pace, jockey Mike Smith used the colt's good natural speed in the Mile to lay close early. Considering what happened in the first turn, Smith made a brilliant decision. 

As the horses reached the clubhouse bend, Ski Paradise, who had hugged the rail since breaking alertly from the inside post under Thierry Jarnet, bore out and bothered Flawlessly, Paradise Creek, Lech, and Lure. 

Flawlessly, the only Breeders' Cup starter for Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham, was squeezed in very tight quarters during the incident. The other three were carried wide, with Lure on the far outside.

Smith was lucky to be on a horse that handles turns so well. Combine that with Lure's ability to sweep by horses so rapidly, and you have a colt that can take being pushed sideways into the five or six path and use it to his advantage. 

Ski Paradise would right herself, stay on the inside, and finish a clear second. 

Behind that lead group, even more action was unfolding on the first turn. Another foreign-based entrant, Barathea, forgot to turn altogether. The son of Sadler's Wells didn't bolt or blow the turn, he merely continued running straight. 

Jockey Gary Stevens, aboard Barathea for the first time, did a remarkable job of keeping his mount from knocking someone over. But damage had been done. 

Barathea slammed into Wolfhound, Catrail, and Buckhar, completely knocking them out of contention. Interestingly, two of the three horses Barathea bothered so badly were his stablemates—Catrail and Wolfhound, owned by Sheikh Mohammed, who owns Barathea in partnership with breeder Gerald Leigh. 

One explanation for Barathea's antics could be that he has raced on a left-handed course only once and that was in the Epsom Derby (Eng-I), where the bend he would be used to—well into the trip and a wide-sweeping turn at that—would be in stark contrast to Santa Anita's short course with tight turns. 

One horse (besides Lure that is) who was lucky enough to escape major trouble was longshot Fourstars Allstar, who relished the firm turf and was always prominent, finishing third, a head in front of Toussand. The later ran an excellent race after being bumped by Bigstone in the first turn and brushing with Paradise Creek in the stretch. 

As the horses moved out of the first turn, announcer Tom Durkin proclaimed, "Ski Paradise was the culprit," but a close look at the replay of the race made it clear Barathea caused substantially more trouble.

Of course, impossible to ascertain is whether what Ski Paradise did contributed to Barathea's actions. 

Stevens, however, was quick to assume responsibility for what happened. "He (Barathea) basically caused all the problems," he said. 

The most perplexing part of trying to sort out who did what in the first turn came after the race when no inquiry was posted. Except for Lure, Ski Paradise and Barathea finished ahead of several horses who were bothered, and both of them collected checks. For second, Ski Paradise earned $200,000, while Barathea finished fifth, pocketing $20,000. 

John Gosden, who won the first Breeders' Cup Mile in 1984 with Royal Heroine and has openly complained about the race on a short course not being extended to 1 1/16 miles, was fuming afterward about what happened to his two runners, Catrail and Wolfhound. 

"Barathea caused the trouble, smashed us out of it," Gosden said. "We got murdered. The trainers out here (in California) have been telling them (Santa Anita) for years that they can't run a race this way. It has to be 1 1/16 miles."

Regardless of the trouble encountered by several horses in the field, it appeared that even with a perfect trip by all 12 challengers, no one was going to beat Lure. The muscular bay colt was striding out effortlessly over the grass and once he took the lead halfway through the race, the others were running for second money. 

"There wasn't much speed in the race," McGaughey said. "I was maybe a little bit surprised he went to the lead down the backside, but I think what happened in the first turn caused Mike to decide to go on to the lead.

"He's just a very agile horse," McGaughey continued. "He's especially agile around turns. That was a big advantage on the Europeans.

"He's right up there with the best I've trained," said McGaughey, who has conditioned five Eclipse Award winners. "He's certainly the best grass horse I've ever been around." 

Smith said he didn't see the first turn trouble coming, but when it happened, he thought it "was going to be a really, really bad situation.

"The horse to the inside (Ski Paradise) was trying to bolt," Smith said immediately after the race. "I was trying to give and take when, thank goodness, someone relieved the pressure. At that point, I knew I needed to go on. 

"He was running very easily on the lead," the 28-year-old jockey continued. "He gives you all he's got every time."

Lure didn't set a course record this year, but he wasn't far off. He covered the distance in 1:33:58, nearly a second off the course mark of 1:32:60. He paid $4.60, the shortest price in the 10 runnings of the Mile. 

Lure's victory was the fifth in a Breeders' Cup race for McGaughey, who remains tied for second in that category with Neil Drysdale, who saddled Hollywood Wildcat to win this year's Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I). He is the only Breeders' Cup winner for Claiborne and for Smith. 

McGaughey is second among all trainers by Breeders' Cup earnings with $5,033,000. This year, he picked up a total of $696,000. Besides Lure's $520,000, he sent out Heavenly Prize to run third in the Juvenile Fillies (gr. I, $120,000), and Dispute to finish fourth in the Distaff ($56,000). His only major disappointment on the day was Miner's Mark, who struggled home 12th of 13 in the Classic (gr. I). 

Besides Lure's obvious chance for year-end honors, his trainer and jockey are themselves having Eclipse Award years. McGaughey won five graded stakes on one card at Belmont on Oct. 16 (Lure being one of them), and Smith, besides being the regular rider of Lure, piloted Sky Beauty to four grade I wins including the New York fillies triple crown, was aboard Prairie Bayou in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), and was the leading rider by earnings—over $10 million—going in to the Breeders' Cup.

McGaughey said Lure would ship back to New York, then sometime in late November head to Florida for the winter. Prior to the Breeders' Cup, Hancock announced that Lure would stay in training next year as a 5-year-old. His 1994 schedule may look very similar to this year's.

Hancock watched Lure's race at Churchill Downs, the family represented at Santa Anita by his sisters, Dell and Clay, and his mother, Mrs. Waddell Hancock. Also on hand was Mrs. Alma Haggin, whose late husband, Louis, was a cousin of William Haggin Perry, longtime Claiborne client and co-breeder of Lure in the name of his Gamely Corp.

Seth Hancock, his brother Arthur, and their wives, Deborah and Stacie, were headed to California on Nov. 4, but when their flight was cancelled after a long delay, they abandoned plans to attend. 

"I was going to have dinner with Dick Mandella Thursday night, then visit with people at the barns on Friday morning," Seth Hancock said by telephone for his home in Paris, Ky., on the night of the Mile repeat. "If we had flown out Friday, the track closed early Saturday so not many trainers would have been around, plus my flight back was Saturday night because the sale (Keeneland November auction) starts Monday. It just seemed like too much."

Hancock said he had been thinking of keeping Lure in training next year for quite some time, then made his mind up during the Keeneland summer yearling sale. 

Claiborne stands Lure's sire, Danzig, who is bidding to lead the progeny earnings list for the third straight year. But, as good a sire as he is, the son of Northern Dancer has yet to establish himself as a sire-of-sires. 

"I decided (to race Lure next year) when I saw how well the Dayjurs sold," Hancock explained. "There's a little cloud hanging over the sons of Danzig and I thought how the Dayjurs run would help Lure."

Dayjur, who ran second in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I), had 11 members of his first crop sell at Keeneland in July for an average of $366,364, fourth highest among all sires represented at the sale with three or more sold. 

"There are other reasons, too," Hancock said. "My mother is 79 and Mr. Perry is in his 80s. They love racing and this gives them something to look forward to. Plus, no one has ever won three Breeders' Cups."

In fact, no one has ever tried. The other two dual winners, Miesque and Bayakoa, were retired before attempting win number three. 

If Lure is in the starting gate Nov. 5, 1994, at Churchill Downs, it won't be a hard race to handicap. In fact, don't even bother handicapping; just call and ask Bobby Frankel. 

"Hello, Frankel Stable...we're not in right now, but whoever beats Lure wins the Mile."