Game Winner Could Sink Juvenile Competition
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
Game Winner has won his first three starts, including two grade 1 scores
Game Winner Could Sink Juvenile Competition
Undefeated Game Winner will attempt to secure a divisional championship in the $2 million Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.
With the Juvenile being moved to the featured slot among five Breeders' Cup races for 2-year-olds on Future Stars Friday, an expected full field of 14 is expected to contest the 1 1/16-mile test that awards qualifying points—and gets the buzz going—for the 2019 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
Gary and Mary West's Game Winner has already made some noise as he enters the Juvenile off three consecutive wins by a combined 11 3/4 lengths, including two grade 1 events in September—the Del Mar Futurity and American Pharoah Stakes. Three-time Juvenile-winning trainer Bob Baffert said those starts, especially with a two-week turnaround to the Futurity after the colt's Aug. 18 debut, show sturdiness in the son of Candy Ride —Indyan Giving, by A.P. Indy.
"He's a beautiful horse. He's big, he's strong, he's really strong. He handles racing well. I ran him back two weeks and he won the Futurity, and it's very rare you can do that with a horse," Baffert said. "I mean, he comes back right away. He thrives on training and racing, but he looks the part.
"He's a specimen of a horse, not only for the Breeders' Cup but for the Derby next year. You know, the further the better. I just love the way he won the American Pharaoh—he just did it. Then he came back like it was nothing for him, and the really good ones, they tip you off, and he tipped us off at Del Mar at how good he really was."
While Game Winner puts his undefeated record on the line from the West, the East Coast offers Complexity, who secured his second win in as many starts Oct. 6 in taking the Champagne Stakes (G1) by three lengths at Belmont Park. Complexity is conditioned by Chad Brown, who won last year's Juvenile with Good Magic off a second in the one-turn-mile Champagne.
"Complexity is a really remarkable talent, and he's obviously very fast. He's just a really efficient mover, and he switches off nicely for the rider, both in the morning and afternoon—a very efficient horse," Brown said. "Going on two turns is going to be a new challenge for him, but based on the way he's training, I'm confident he'll be able to do it."
The field's third horse entered off a top-level win is KRA Stud Farm's Knicks Go, who upset the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland at 70-1 for trainer Ben Colebrook.
Churchill Downs, Friday, November 02, 2018, Race 9Entries: Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Dueling (KY)
Manuel Franco
122
Jerry Hollendorfer
20/1
2
2Mr. Money (KY)
Gabriel Saez
122
W. Bret Calhoun
30/1
3
3Derby Date (KY)
Luis Contreras
122
D. Wayne Lukas
30/1
4
4Tight Ten (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
122
Steven M. Asmussen
30/1
5
5Well Defined (FL)
Mike E. Smith
122
Kathleen O'Connell
20/1
6
6Complexity (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
122
Chad C. Brown
5/2
7
7Mind Control (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
122
Gregory D. Sacco
20/1
8
8Standard Deviation (KY)
Javier Castellano
122
Chad C. Brown
12/1
9
9Game Winner (KY)
Joel Rosario
122
Bob Baffert
8/5
10
10Knicks Go (MD)
Albin Jimenez
122
Ben Colebrook
30/1
11
11Code of Honor (KY)
John R. Velazquez
122
Claude R. McGaughey III
5/1
12
12Gunmetal Gray (KY)
Flavien Prat
122
Jerry Hollendorfer
10/1
13
13Topper T (IA)
Tyler Gaffalione
122
William I. Mott
30/1
14
14Signalman (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
122
Kenneth G. McPeek
20/1
