Arrogate Finishes Strong to be Champion 3-Year-Old Male

Nobody saw it coming, this gray or roan express train that had been dismissed at odds of 11-1 on a hot late-summer day at Saratoga Race Course.

With the Preakness and Belmont (both G1) winners in the field for the Travers Stakes (G1), and with trainer Bob Baffert unable to win the previous edition of the race with a Triple Crown champion, what credence could be given to an optional-claiming allowance winner shipping cross-country to contest the Midsummer Derby?

In the space of 1:59.36, the entire scope of racing for 2016 changed radically. Sure, Arrogate went out to the Travers lead, but his :46.84 half-mile fraction was surely too rapid for the 10-furlong test, wasn’t it? Allowance winners weren’t supposed to open up on a field of graded winners and they’re not supposed to lengthen their lead to 13 1/2 lengths on the wire and smash a track record that had stood for 36 years.

NOVAK: Arrogate Blazes to Travers Record

Juddmonte Farms’ Arrogate was no one-hit wonder, either. Kept out of competition for 10 weeks between the Travers and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), he fought every step of the way and passed the seemingly invincible California Chrome   late to win the Classic and cement his place as champion 3-year-old male of 2016.

NOVAK: Arrogate Upsets 'Chrome' in BC Classic

That Arrogate (Unbridled's Song—Bubbler, by Distorted Humor  ) was only breaking his maiden a week before the running of the Belmont shows how quick his ascension was. And combined with the dissipating fortunes of classic winners Nyquist  , Exaggerator  , and Creator, Arrogate was the dominant 3-year-old left standing at year’s end.

Bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms, Arrogate is the product of Prince Khalid Abdullah’s seeking to reinvigorate his North American stable, which had fallen in numbers and fortune following the death of Juddmonte’s longtime U.S. trainer Bobby Frankel. And who better to guide that resurgence than Baffert, who did a masterful job guiding Arrogate to five consecutive victories following a first-out, third-place finish at Los Alamitos Race Course in April? Baffert, with help from bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, purchased Arrogate for $560,000 during the third session of the 2014 Keeneland September yearling auction.

The colt had shin issues early in his career, but once he got rolling he galloped through two optional-claiming allowance conditions without being turned loose. That came at Saratoga.

From questioning whether he could hold on at the top of the stretch of the Travers, the racing world has come to realize they are witnessing something special in Arrogate, who has only gotten better as the distances and competition increase. How good is he?

“I thought it would be a long time before I got a horse of American Pharoah  ’s caliber again,” Baffert said. “Then Arrogate comes along.”