Columnist Ralph Siraco: Frankel could break out at Breeders’ Cup

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Oct. 22, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his California selections appear Tuesday-Sunday. Reach him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 2275 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 300, Henderson, NV 89074.

On Saturday, the sport -- and business -- of horse racing will present the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championship at Belmont Park in New York.

The World Series of the equine set will feature the finest competitors the sport of kings has to offer. The best horses, jockeys, trainers and owners will come together for the eight-race super summit to crown the year's champions.

The sport's stars are ready to shine. And at least one of them is well overdue. Trainer Thad Ackel has started just one horse in the Breeders' Cup. It was in the 1988 Turf race, and that runner, Great Communicator, won. His jockey, Ray Sibille, has yet to ride another horse in Breeders' Cup competition.

Sibille has just as many winners in Breeders' Cup competition as the more accomplished rider Alex Solis. Each rider has won a single time, with Solis taking 32 mounts and earning the coveted trophy last year aboard Sprint winner Kona Gold.

Ackel, on the other hand, has more victories (or should we say victory) than Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel. The hottest trainer in America comes into Saturday's championship competition sitting on the most obvious goose egg, after 36 attempts that date back to the first Breeders' Cup competition.

From the eighth-place finish of Night Mover in the 1984 Mile through a runner-up effort by Honest Lady in last year's Sprint, Frankel has yet to taste a victory in either a Breeders' Cup or Triple Crown event.

Although Frankel sits 11th on the Breeders' Cup earnings list with $3,479,000, only three trainers have started more horses in the event, and each one of them has at least five Breeders' Cup victories.

Solis and Frankel will get their chances in this 18th edition of Breeders' Cup to pass Sibille and Ackel -- who will not be competing this year -- in the record books.

While Solis will try a repeat aboard Kona Gold in the Sprint, Frankel is loaded for Breeders' Cup bear.

Frankel will send six horses to the post in six of the eight Breeders' Cup races this year. All six have solid chances to win their respective divisions. Three of his starters are likely to be either the race favorite or close second choices.

Frankel will begin the day by tightening the girth on his favorite trainee. Flute should set the tone for a Frankel assault on the Breeders' Cup when she goes postward in the first of the eight Breeders' Cup events, the Distaff, which will start the championship program at Belmont Park.

Frankel has a soft spot for the 3-year-old filly. Since she started her career with the 60-year-old trainer, Frankel has been partial both to her accomplishments and her character. Many horses sent to Frankel from her owner, the Juddmonte Farms, started their careers in Europe. Boasting a record of four wins and three seconds in seven lifetime starts, Flute won the prestigious Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and the Alabama at Saratoga this year. The daughter of 1977 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year Seattle Slew most recently finished second in the Beldame over the Belmont strip.

Next will be the Juvenile Fillies, in which Frankel will start the favorite, You. You has been brilliant in four lifetime starts. The daughter of You And I -- who Frankel started to finish 10th in the 1995 Sprint -- was spectacular in her Breeders' Cup prep over the track on Oct. 6. You won the Frizette by a half-dozen lengths for her third career victory and will be formidable against her first-year classmates Saturday.

Frankel should be sipping champagne while they run the Mile, one of two races Saturday in which the trainer does not have a starter.

After the bubbly, Frankel will saddle Squirtle Squirt in the Sprint. Frankel took over training of the one-run speedster this year. Under his care, Squirtle Squirt has won twice and finished third three times in five starts this year. The single dimension runner is certain to be part of the hell-bent crowd on the front end of the six-furlong dash and will not relinquish the lead without a fight.

Frankel will saddle Starine for the Filly & Mare Turf. An accomplished marathon turf runner, she will not be the favorite and will need a solid pace to display her closing kick. A two-time winner at Saratoga this year, Starine will have to better her recent third-place finish in the Flower Bowl and turn the tables on Lailani and England's Legend.

Frankel will have time to reflect and regroup while Officer takes on the world in the Juvenile. This is the other event in which he will not have a runner competing.

Although Frankel will participate in the Turf with Timboroa, this could be the longest priced runner he saddles on the day. The Del Mar Handicap winner recently won the Turf Classic over the Belmont Park grass course. That Breeders' Cup prep victory led to a start in the main event, but took place over a giving course in slow time. Weather may play an important as far as his chances in a deep, wide-open heat Saturday.

Finally the Classic. Frankel will lead Juddmonte Farms' Aptitude to the paddock for the main event. The son of 1992 Breeders' Cup Classic and Horse of the Year A P Indy, Aptitude has been a work in progress for the talented trainer.

Troubled with physical problems throughout his career, Aptitude finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes of 2000. The decision to put Aptitude away for the rest of last year may be the very reason this guy is one of the Classic favorites on Saturday. Avoiding the temptation of continuing on through last year's Breeders' Cup, Frankel now finds himself with a peaking runner.

The Hollywood Gold Cup and Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap winner is coming into this race off a smashing 10-length victory in the recent Jockey Club Gold Cup over this same track and distance on Oct. 6. Frankel hopes Aptitude follows in the hoofsteps of his famous sire.

The Classic could cap off a classic day for Frankel.

And wouldn't it be something if a Jewish Brooklyn-born trainer would team with a Saudi Arabian owner to win the World Thoroughbred Championship in New York?

Only in America.