'Different' Accelerate Stretches Out for Big 'Cap

Trainer John Sadler rather matter-of-factly came out and said it after the 2017 $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic (G1).

"My horse is not a mile-and-a-quarter horse," Sadler remarked a day after Accelerate's first try at 10 furlongs.

It's not that Accelerate did anything wrong in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar—he finished third behind the Bob Baffert-trained pair of Collected and Arrogate —but it just didn't feel like the classic distance suited him.

Accelerate changed his connections' opinion, however, in his first start of 2018, and now he's back to try 1 1/4 miles again March 10 in the $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap Presented by San Manuel Bingo and Casino (G1).

The son of Lookin At Lucky  had a 5-year-old debut that featured plenty of trouble under jockey Victor Espinoza, but Accelerate was so much the best that it didn't matter.

Pinballed at the break, Accelerate appeared to be trapped inside the first turn and during the backstretch run of the 1 1/8-mile San Pasqual (G2) Feb. 3 at Santa Anita Park.

Espinoza tried to rush up to the front of the field in the backstretch but was shut off on the rail, checked, and dropped from a neck off the lead to sixth entering the final turn.

But the jockey was undeterred, and once again tried to go up the rail. His second try, in the second turn this time, was successful. Accelerate shot through and burst away to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

BALAN: Accelerate Powers Through Trouble to Win San Pasqual

"His last race—with him not breaking well, with him checked up, and with him having to show some patience—it indicated to us he's maturing," owner Kosta Hronis said. "Maybe he's showing enough maturity now to show more at a mile and a quarter. We thought we saw a different Accelerate.

"He's perfect at a mile and a sixteenth or a mile and an eighth, and I'd rather he go to a mile and a quarter than the other way, to a mile."

Accelerate will have to contend with another Baffert duo in the Big 'Cap, albeit without the cachet of Arrogate and Collected.

Both Hoppertunity and Mubtaahij are grade 1 winners, however, and can be formidable when they fire their best.

"This is all about the résumé," Baffert said of the two older horses who figure to be stallions in the not-so-distant future.

The Hall of Fame trainer also didn't rule out a bigger prize for both horses three weeks after the Big 'Cap. Both have experience running in the Dubai World Cup (G1)—Hoppertunity finished third in 2016 and sixth in 2017, and Mubtaahij came in fourth in 2017—and should they run well Saturday, another trip overseas could be in the cards.

The wildcard in the field is Exline-Border Racing, Gatto Racing, and Garrett Zubok's Giant Expectations, who is cross-entered in the Big 'Cap and the seven-furlong Triple Bend Stakes (G1), which is also in the Saturday lineup.

Trainer Peter Eurton said March 8 that he and the ownership group have yet to make a decision on which race to run in, but he is not concerned with the added distance of the Big 'Cap. The 5-year-old son of Frost Giant  has never raced at a mile and a quarter, but he earned his first two-turn victory in the Dec. 26 San Antonio Stakes (G2), before a ninth-place run in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1).

"We'll probably know by tonight. My daughter (TVG broadcaster Britney Eurton) is even asking," the trainer said.

When asked which distance suited Giant Expectations best, without the context of draw and trip, Eurton sided with the longer race.

"I'd say a mile and a quarter," he said. "He's got a really good cruising speed. But if you get him running too fast, like he did in the Pegasus on a loosey-goosey track—it's just, you don't know what everyone else is going to do. What's Accelerate going to do? What (are the other speed horses) going to do?"

Rounding out the field is 2017 Cougar II Handicap (G3) winner Curlin Road, who will make his first start since the Pacific Classic; 2017 Harlan's Holiday (G3) winner Fear the Cowboy, the lone out-of-town presence in the field; and 2017 Native Diver (G3) winner Prime Attraction, who closed late to finish second behind Accelerate in the San Pasqual.

Entries: Santa Anita H. Presented by San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, March 10, 2018, Race 10

• Grade I
• 1 1/4m
• Dirt
• $600,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 5:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Top of the Game (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	116	Vladimir Cerin	10/1
2	2Prime Attraction (KY)	Tiago Josue Pereira	119	James M. Cassidy	8/1
3	3Curlin Road (KY)	Tyler Baze	116	Doug F. O'Neill	12/1
4	4Giant Expectations (NY)	Corey S. Nakatani	121	Peter Eurton	5/1
5	5Hoppertunity (KY)	Flavien Prat	121	Bob Baffert	7/2
6	6Fear the Cowboy (KY)	Javier Castellano	118	Efren Loza, Jr.	3/1
7	7Accelerate (KY)	Victor Espinoza	123	John W. Sadler	5/2
8	8Mubtaahij (IRE)	Mike E. Smith	122	Bob Baffert	4/1