Frosted Targets Classic off PA Derby Victory

Name the key prep races for the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I). How quickly did the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II) come to mind?

In the past two years the winners of the biggest race at Parx Racing, Bayern and Will Take Charge  , have gone on to successful runs in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Bayern won last year's 1 1/4-mile Classic while Will Take Charge finished second in 2013, a nose behind winner Mucho Macho Man  .

The connections of Godolphin Racing's Frosted would love to see that trend continue in this year's Classic Oct. 31 at Keeneland. The son of Tapit   ended a four-race skid dating back to this year's TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) at Aqueduct Racetrack when he won this year's Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 19. In fact, Frosted is on a very similar path to Bayern and Will Take Charge, who both started in the Travers Stakes (gr. I)—Bayern finished last and Will Take Charge won—before their Pennsylvania Derby scores.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said after Frosted dueled with American Pharoah early in the Travers before finishing third behind the Triple Crown victor and winner Keen Ice in the 1 1/4-mile race at Saratoga Race Course, he quickly bounced back. That allowed McLaughlin to move forward and enter Frosted in the 1 1/8-mile Pennsylvania Derby, where he delivered a two-length score, rallying from fifth under Joel Rosario.

"We ran him back three weeks after the Travers, which was unusual for us as a team. We usually like to have a little more time between starts, but he came out of the Travers so well and he just was tearing the barn down and we decided to go ahead and run him," McLaughlin said. "He ran a huge race and he's come out of the race great. ... We're ready to go; it's just a tough race."

Bred by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley, Frosted has breezed three times since the Pennsylvania Derby and most recently completed four furlongs in :47 Oct. 23 on the synthetic surface at the Greentree Training Center—the bullet among six workers at the distance that day.

Throughout his career, Frosted has taken the stresses of racing in stride; he has never finished worse than fourth in his 12 career starts. He finished fourth in this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and second in this year's Belmont Stakes (gr. I). In the summer he came back with a runner-up finish to Texas Red in the Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) before his Travers run.

"Frosted is like a throwback horse. He just doesn't miss a note," McLaughlin said. "He stomps around and wants to strike the hot walker in the morning. He's happy. He never seems to get tired. The more we do with him the better he does."

McLaughlin's brother and assistant, Neal McLaughlin, said it will be a challenge keeping Frosted busy from the Pennsylvania Derby to the Oct. 31 Classic.

"When we won the Pennsylvania Derby, my brother Neal, who has him up at Greentree said, 'I don't know if we're going to be able to keep him on the ground for the six weeks.' But he's just doing extremely well," said McLaughlin who won the 2006 Classic with Invasor  . "It's a tough, tough race with American Pharoah, and Beholder, Honor Code, Tonalist; Keen Ice beat us already. So it's a great group of horses, but we feel like we're up for a big race ourselves."