Getting to Know Smooth Roller

Smooth Roller earns a spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic with his win in the Sept. 26 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Very rarely do you see a horse older than 2 years old go from his career debut to winning a Grade 1 race by more than five lengths, but Smooth Roller isn’t any horse.
When debuting on June 27 as a 4-year-old, it’s very likely that few people at the track that day thought they were watching the Awesome Again Stakes winner. But on Sept. 26, he crossed the finish line in front and he now is headed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland Race Course on Oct. 31. Since he’s a new face on the scene, let’s get to know him a little more.
Race Résumé
A $160,000 Keeneland September purchase in 2012, Smooth Roller took a long time to pay off his connections for their faith in him.
Debuting in June at Santa Anita going seven furlongs, the gelding showed that maybe the wait was worth it by winning that start by 2 ½ lengths to earn a speed figure of 100. He took more than a month off after that win, returning at Del Mar on Aug. 1 at 1 1/16 miles in a race that he had to work a little harder to win, squeaking out a nose victory for a 103 figure.
The step up to stakes company for the Harry Brubaker Stakes in his third start didn’t go as planned, but the fourth-place finish wasn’t as bad as it looks on first glance. He was only 1 ¼ lengths behind the winner and made a six-point leap to earn a 109 Equibase Speed Figure.
That brings us to Smooth Roller’s graded stakes debut in the Awesome Again.
As expected, Bayern took the lead in the race and Tyler Baze settled Smooth Roller about a length behind him. On the turn, Baze urged Smooth Roller to take on Bayern, and by the top of the stretch he had the lead with Baze putting his whip away about a furlong before the finish line. Smooth Roller’s winning margin was 5 ¼ lengths with the gelding earning a 115 Equibase Speed Figure.
2015 AWESOME AGAIN STAKES

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
To be completely honest, I don’t know what to make of Smooth Roller. His win in the Awesome Again was visibly impressive but even though he beat last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner in Bayern, this year’s Bayern is not the same horse we saw in 2014.
Overall, the Awesome Again wasn’t a strong field and Smooth Roller is about 10 speed figure points behind the top two from the Whitney Stakes.
It doesn’t look like distance will be a problem for Smooth Roller, but there are a lot of questions about the gelding that have me hesitant to think he’ll be a big contender in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Pedigree
Smooth Roller is by Hard Spun, who finished second in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic and hit the board in two out of the three 3-year-old classics that year. He is the sire of 43 stakes winners from 594 starters through Sept. 30, including the champion Questing and Grade 1 winners Wicked Strong, Hard Not to Like and Hardest Core among others.
Hard Spun currently ranks 11th on the leading sires list with multiple horses looking like they may represent the sire at the Breeders’ Cup.
SMOOTH ROLLER WINS THE AWESOME AGAIN

Smooth Roller’s dam, Catch the Moment, has had four winners from four to race with her 2008 colt, Elite Alex, finishing third in the 2011 Southwest Stakes to Archarcharch. Catch the Moment also has a 2-year-old who is in South Korea and she is bred to Animal Kingdom for a 2016 foal.
Catch the Moment’s dam, Fluid Move, was stakes-placed at Keeneland in the Valley View and at Woodbine in the Wonder Where Stakes. She produced four winners with her daughter by Empire Maker, Nor’easter Kate, also producing a group stakes winner in Argentina.
Farther back, Smooth Roller shares a family with 1984 Epsom Derby winner Secreto and graded stakes winner California Nectar and Close Conflict. Overall, he has nine stakes winners in his family with three graded stakes winners.
Smooth Roller looks like he’s facing a monumental task to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but he’s already overcome long odds in his career so it’s not impossible that he could keep the fairy tale running on Oct. 31.