BC Dirt Mile Makes Impact in Short Time

The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) may not have the storied history of many of the World Championship races, but what it lacks in longevity it makes up for in quality with a roster of seven impressive performances.

There was grade I winner Corinthian   drawing off in the Monmouth Park slop in 2007 to dominate by 6 1/2 lengths. Or Albertus Maximus   splitting horses in 2008 at Santa Anita Park with a gutsy move and a launching pad to victory in the Donn Handicap (gr. I) the following season. And Furthest Land sneaking away with his afinity for the all-weather surface at Santa Anita to claim the 2009 running at odds of 21-1.

Dakota Phone took the race by a late-flying head in 2010, despite having never won at a mile in 31 previous starts. The 2011 winner, Caleb's Posse  , closed four wide from far back and sailed clear by four lengths with tremendous acceleration that earned a nomination for Eclipse Award honors as outstanding 3-year-old male, a title he narrowly lost to Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Animal Kingdom  . In 2013, Tapizar   earned his revenge for a fifth-place finish the previous year, pressing the pace and then carrying on to a 2 1/4-length victory at odds of 15-1.

And then there was Goldencents  , who scooted to the lead and took them wire-to-wire last season—the same Goldencents who returns in this year's running in pursuit of the purse of $1 million. He could be the first two-time winner of the Dirt Mile, and prepped for this spot exactly as he did last year with a runner-up spot in the Oct. 4 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (gr. I).

According to Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm, a Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile win is a feather in the cap of a stallion prospect, especially one that has carried on to victory at various distances. Goldencents will retire to stud at the Kentucky farm for 2015.

"I think that has to be right up there on your list of races to win with a stallion prospect," Toffey said. "There's so much emphasis on speed, yet having a horse with some speed but the ability to go on. There's an old adage, 'milers make the best sires.' We feel like this race is very important and of course there's almost no bigger stage—you don't have to convince people you beat a good group of horses."

Goldencents, by Into Mischief  , also won the 2013 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) going 1 1/8 miles for trainer Doug O'Neill long before his first Dirt Mile score. In addition to his Sprint Championship second this year, he has a victory in the Aug. 24 Pat O'Brien Stakes (gr. II) at Del Mar as well as runner-up finishes in the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) and Bing Crosby Stakes (gr. I) for W. C. Racing. 

"I think it just shows you what a tough, sound, innately talented horse he is," Toffey said of Goldencents becoming the first Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner to make a return the next year. "If he's not winning these races, he's aways right there. He never seems to throw in a bad race, knock on wood. And the exciting thing for me is, this horse has shown tremendous brilliance also being able to win near the lead going a mile and an eighth, yet to be able to outperform the very best at a mile—that's a huge statement about the quality of this horse."

While other Dirt Mile winners may be retired, their challenge now is to impact the sport through the breeding shed. Over at Gainesway, Tapizar is in line to do just that, with his connections hopeful he'll follow in the hoofprints of Tapit  , his leading sire.

"I think what you want is a precocious horse with an ability to carry his speed two turns at a grade I level," said Gainesway's Michael Hernon. "It was the crowning performance of Tapizar's career, to win a Breeders' Cup race on the world stage against a top field of horses and to retire sound into stud. He's a great-bodied horse who was very well-sought after; he bred 142 mares in his first crop, which are now weanlings, and we're excited about them."

Tapizar's half brother, a yearling by Trappe Shot   out of the Deputy Minister mare Winning Call, could follow in his footsteps someday. The colt was a recent $600,000 purchase at the Keeneland September yearling sale; he was sold to Juddmonte and will be trained by Bob Baffert, Hernon said.

Dr. Bill Solomon of Pin Oak Lane Farm near New Freedom, Pa., confirmed Toffey's statement that breeders are attracted to the speed required to win the Dirt Mile. Corinthian moved to Pin Oak Lane for the 2014 season.

"I think because speed really matters, when people are looking at sires they like horses with that sprint ability," Solomon said. "Corinithian certainly had that, and proved it there (in the Dirt Mile) and earlier in the Met Mile.

"A win in the Dirt Mile is very important; people like horses that are not only very fast, but carry it."

One such horse was the brilliant Caleb's Posse, a Posse   colt who became the first 3-year-old to win the Dirt Mile while giving both trainer Donnie Von Hemel and jockey Rajiv Maragh their initial Breeders' Cup victories. Von Hemel said he goes to visit the athletic bay at Three Chimneys Farm at least once a year, and owns an interest in a few foals that are now weanlings.

Caleb's Posse showed his skill as one of the top sprinters in the country for McNeill and Cheyenne Stables with back-to-back victories in the Amsterdam Stakes (gr. II) and the Foxwoods King's Bishop (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course.

"After he won the King's Bishop we had decided that the Breeders' Cup would be our goal," Von Hemel said. "We chose to run in the Indiana Derby with the Dirt Mile being our goal; it was a way to get to the Breeders' Cup, more or less, and he ran (third) well enough to go."

Von Hemel knew it took a special horse to win the Dirt Mile, but also knew the kind of runner he had.

"I do think the mile races are the races where you get to see a horse who can go and keep going in a demanding race, whereas a race that's a mile and an eighth, for instance, they're going the first half in :49 and you find horses that finish well but it's rare to find that constant stamina," Von Hemel said. "A horse has got to have some zip to him, and some staying power—you've got to have pace and keep going."

The trainer recalled an almost surreal experience for a racehorse trainer leading up to the Dirt Mile in 2011—all of the pieces perfectly falling into place.

"The horse just ate, trained, he didn't have any hiccups," he said. "When he went out to work, whatever number we wanted, he just hit it. Whatever I wanted to do with him, it didn't matter, he'd go out there and do it.

"I have lots of memories of that win. The day of the race, my daughter and wife had traveled to Louisville to watch, and my daughter walked over with me and Caleb and our crew. It was a fun time, and the realization at the quarter pole that he was probably going to win was incredible.

"You feel like you have a big chance, but when it's actually happening you just can't believe it—all these years, all this work, has finally come to fruition. And post race, a feeling of satisfaction beyond belief. I was calm, and satisfied."