Annapolis Ready for Test Against Older Rivals

For the connections of Annapolis , Sept. 3 was a long time coming.

Eleven months earlier, the War Front   colt, then a 2-year-old, won the Oct.3 Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) at Belmont Park in his second start and established himself as a top candidate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the son of the grade 1-placed mare My Miss Sophia  had the exciting mix of speed, a competitive nature, and superb bloodlines to rank among the year's most exciting juvenile runners on any surface.

Then fate stepped into the picture.

Ankle chips knocked Annapolis out of the Breeders' Cup and brought his season to an abrupt halt.

The Bass Racing colt was sidelined until June 3, when he launched his comeback in the bog at Penn National and finished second as a 1-2 favorite in the Penn Mile Stakes (G2T).

A victory in the Manila Stakes followed but then he had to settle for second again when he finished 1 3/4 lengths behind Nations Pride  in the Caesars Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T).

Because of those two runner-up finishes in graded stakes, it made the moment that much sweeter this past Saturday when Annapolis finally secured a second graded stakes win by coasting to a 5 1/2-length score as a prohibitive 1-9 favorite in the $186,000 Saranac Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course.

"There are very few good things that can happen at 1-9, but he's a very, very special horse. He installs confidence when you run him," said bloodstock agent Steve Young, an adviser to the Bass family. "He's a wonderful horse and I couldn't be happier for Ramona (Bass) and everyone in the family and everyone at Claiborne Farm who raised him. He's what everyone gets up seven days a week for. He's a very special horse, and it couldn't happen to better people."

Much of the expectations for Annapolis are linked to his dam, who was purchased for $4 million by Young, as an agent for Ramona and her son, Perry Bass, from the Lane's End consignment at the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. At the time, she was in foal to War Front and carrying Annapolis.

The grade 2-winning My Miss Sophia, who was second in the 2014 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), also produced a yearling full brother to Annapolis in her most recent foal.

Young said Annapolis would likely be pointed to the Oct. 8 $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland, which will be his first test against older rivals and an audition for another Breeders' Cup bid—this one for the Nov. 5 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T).