Counting Out the Dude a Dangerous Game

Co-owner Joe Torre (left) leads Game On Dude to the winner's circle after the 2013 Pacific Classic Stakes. (All photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Game On Dude may be a son of Awesome Again out of a Devil His Due mare, but somewhere in his pedigree there has to be the blood of a Phoenix.
Each time he’s written off after a dull effort, the 8-time Grade 1 winner somehow manages to rise from those ashes and turn in a sensational effort that makes his critics wonder why they ever doubted him.
It’s happened before and it could turn out to be a main storyline once again in Sunday’s $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar (8:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network), where the 7-year-old gelding who seems to have a lost a step or two will tackle “The New Gelding In Town,” the unbeaten 3-year-old Shared Belief.
Shared Belief, the reigning 2-year-old champion, is the 5-to-2 morning-line favorite, putting Game On Dude in the underdog role that has so often brought out the best in him.
To help refresh the memory, after finishing 12th in the 2012 Dubai World Cup, he returned to the United States and won the Grade 2 Californian and Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Later that year, when Horse of the Year honors were on the table, he finished seventh as the 1.30-to-1 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The gelding returned in 2013 and reeled off six straight wins, a streak that featured triumphs in the Santa Anita Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup and a spectacular 8 ½-length wipeout in the Pacific Classic.
GAME ON DUDE'S 2013 PACIFIC CLASSIC ROMP

Then with Horse of the Year laurels once again within his grasp, he finished ninth in a field of 11 as the 1.70-to-1 favorite in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
A runner-up finish in the Clark Handicap and a fifth in the Grade 2 San Antonio to start 2014 once again emboldened his critics, who were promptly silenced when he ran a hole in the wind and won the Santa Anita Handicap by 1 ¾ lengths in the dazzling time of 1:58.17 for the 1 ¼ miles.
Now after a second-place finish at 3-to-5 odds in the Charles Town Classic and a worrisome 12 1/2-length loss while finishing fourth at 4-to-5 in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in his last start, the doubters are back in full bloom as he takes on Shared Belief; Gold Cup winner Majestic Harbor; Clubhouse Ride, who beat Game On Dude in the Californian; Cougar II winner Irish Surf and six others in an outstanding edition of the Pacific Classic.
The talk of the race is the other gelding, Shared Belief, who will be tackling 1 ¼ miles for the first time in just his sixth career start, rather than Game On Dude with his considerable experience at the distance and more than $6.4-million in career earnings.
Baffert, though, knows better than most how resilient Game On Dude can be and how formidable he can be when he’s at his best. He says there have been some signals of that brilliance lately.
“Yes, he looks good. I really think he’s training like he was prepping for [the Pacific Classic] last year. He likes the surface [at Del Mar].  He gets over it really well,” Baffert said during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference. “He had a great work. His last two works were really great. He’s really getting over the track well, and so it’s exciting.
“You know, last year I didn’t think I could have him back here at this level again. When he brings his ‘A’ game, nobody can beat him and I really think he’s doing well. So if he throws that ‘A’ race, he’s just he's tough to beat.”
BAFFERT HAS ENJOYED PLENTY OF HIGHLIGHTS WITH GAME ON DUDE

In a sign of the times, Game On Dude’s regular rider, Mike Smith, will not be aboard last year’s Pacific Classic winner. Smith also is Shared Belief’s jockey and choosing between a 3-year-old gelding and a 7-year-old gelding led to what he termed a “difficult” decision that had a rather obvious choice.
“Yes, [it was an] extremely difficult decision. You know, Game On Dude, man, when he shows up and runs his ‘A-plus’ race, there's not too many in the world period that can outrun him. So, he's going to be very, very difficult to beat,” Smith said during the NTRA teleconference. “You know, this decision just came down to more of anything that Shared Belief is three and has a few good years left ahead of him, whereas Game On Dude is seven and I’m not too sure how much longer his racing career will be after this year. That’s just kind of the way you’ve got to look at it.”
So on Sunday, it will be Smith on Shared Belief, who drew the tricky post 11, with Martin Garcia on the 3-to-1 morning-line second choice, Game On Dude, who has post five, in a turn of events that even Baffert understands.
“When Shared Belief won the Los Alamitos Derby, I thought, ‘oh, I'm going to need a new jockey,’ ” Baffert said. “I really can't blame Mike. Mike's been great. He's helped out. He’s taught me a lot of things about this horse when he first got on him that we didn’t know. So, he’s been a big factor in the success of Game On Dude, and he knows we have Martin backed up.
“[Mike is] a real classy gentleman, and he’s going with the younger gelding, which I really can’t blame him. Nobody knows how good Shared Belief is. This is probably going to be the toughest test that he’s ever had. So, I really can’t blame him for maybe trying something else. He knew that if he did it, that I wasn’t going to throw a fit about it or anything like that. I understood. I don't have a problem with it.”
A bigger problem for Smith would be if the old Game On Dude shows up on Sunday. Smith knows how dangerous the accomplished gelding can be if left by his lonesome on the front end as he was in last year’s Pacific Classic. That could force Smith to move earlier than desired with Shared Belief.
On paper, it has the makings of a sensational race. There are those, though, who believe it may not come to pass. They can point to the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, when he chased the front-running Fury Kapcori and tired badly in the stretch, and say the game is coming to an end for “The Dude.” The days have passed when he could run opponents into the ground with a blistering :45.39 opening half-mile and then hold sway in the stretch like did in the Santa Anita Handicap last March.
Yet, it’s that same Santa Anita Handicap that illustrates what can happen when you simply dismiss Game On Dude.
Let’s not forget, he’s part Awesome Again … and part Phoenix.
GAME ON DUDE WINNING THE 2014 SANTA ANITA HANDICAP