Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 10:53 a.m.
Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.
Sharing the sports topic around the water cooler this week will be chatter about the World Series and talk about horse racing's World Series. The World Thoroughbred Championships. Or, for short, The Breeders' Cup.
It is one of those days, when -- like the baseball playoffs and the Super Bowl for football -- everyone becomes a fan of the sport. Alongside the Kentucky Derby, with the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes when there is a Triple Crown on the line, the Breeders' Cup will galvanize more than its normal share of fans -- if at least just for the day.
So while we reserve our Breeders' Cup preview for Friday, here are some tidbits to make your fellow water cooler buddies think you really do know something about the Breeders' Cup -- now that your beloved Cubbies aren't in the World Series.
First, you can let them know this is the 20th renewal of The Breeders' Cup championships. And, that host track Santa Anita Park, in Arcadia, Calif., will be the site of the eight-race series for the third time, having hosted the event first in 1986 and again in 1993. Then you can really impress your cohorts by informing them that the series only featured seven championship divisional races back then. The "Filly & Mare Turf" event didn't join the series of championship races until its inaugural running at Gulfstream Park in 1999.
Now a little gem for each of the Breeders' Cup races:
THE DISTAFF: You might let you water cooler friends know that with defending Distaff winner and reigning Horse Of The Year Azeri out of the picture, the spotlight will find Sightseek, who comes in on a four-race Grade I winning streak. Also in the field will be Got Koko, who is 5-for-7 on the Santa Anita track.
THE JUVENILE FILLIES: Whoever wins this event is a cinch to take the Eclipse Award for the division. Sixteen winners of the 19 runnings have produced the year-end trophy. Although Halfbridled might be the popular filly of the water cooler clique, tell them not to count out a miss by the name of Class Above. She just dusted seven foes in the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies by 16 lengths. And a filly named Be Gentle will be saddled by the leading Breeders' Cup trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, who already has 17 Breeders' Cup statues on the mantle.
THE MILE: Here you can really sound like an expert. First you inform your earshot sippers that the "trip at the distance" is of paramount concern. Post position draw is crucial and that the European invaders have faired well in this heat. Ten pre-entered horses for this year's edition have at least started their careers over the pond with three invading just for the Mile. Last year an Irish-bred shipper named Domedriver upset the Mile and paid $54 for a $2 win bet. That will get their attention.
THE SPRINT; OK, you're not going to make points by saying the obvious -- that this is the shortest championship race in the series at 6 furlongs. You can enlighten those now hinging on your ever word by telling them that only four favorites have won this race, and one of them was a $10 winner. You can also have them scratching their heads with this fitting phrase: "It is not the fastest but often the quickest runner that takes this event." Huh?
THE FILLY & MARE TURF: You remember. This is the newest race in the series. Without a doubt, this year's renewal is the most competitive and deep in contention. It will be a vintage edition. Again, 10 of the pre-entries started their racing careers in Europe with five starting stateside in this race for the first time. With Bright Sky, Yesterday and likely favorite Islington, the Euros may have this one surrounded.
THE JUVENILE: OK, here is where you become the most popular water cooler pundit for next year's Kentucky Derby. Let everyone know that the youngsters showing up in this race don't have a chance at winning the run for the roses next year, even though the winner will become an instant Kentucky Derby future book favorite. Tell your novice friends that in 19 previous runnings, not one Juvenile winner went on to win the Kentucky Derby the following year. And, the past two winners didn't even make the Derby the following spring. Don't venture an opinion in this wide open race. Quit while you're ahead.
THE TURF: Now you really blow their minds. While many listening will figure you to espouse the chances of those Europeans again, you surprise them here. At least a dozen past winners can claim a Euro-invasion. And although the defending champion, European High Chaparral, returns along with a solid brotherhood, it is an American-raced runner with his movie star jockey that would be favored. Storming Home, who unseated jockey Gary Stevens while winning the Arlington Million, returns for revenge here. Stevens, whose injuries from the Arlington spill -- vertebrae damage and a collapsed lung -- caused him to contemplate retirement, stayed in the game just because he wants to ride Storming Home in this race. So, the George Woolf character of the movie "Seabiscuit" finds a Hollywood ending in Arcadia.
THE CLASSIC: This was the "almost Classic." So many top divisional stars kept declining invitation, that it looked as if this would be a $4 million race of has-beens that could be. Now, only those who retired -- except for Candy Ride -- aren't making the big show after all. You can really start a debate by stating that if Perfect Drift wins the Classic he should be voted Horse Of The Year. If anyone at the cooler knows the performances of Mineshaft, they may keep you beyond break time. Hey, if Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Funny Cide can pull it off, you have a case for jockey Julie Krone's comeback-of-the-year Eclipse Award. If not, then like the Cubbies, they can wait until next year.
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