Foster (Grade 1) (BC)- $1,000.000 Purse
CD- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
June 28, 2025
A spot in the BC Classic will be awarded on Saturday as the Grade 1 Foster will be run at CD. The big prize will be the winner’s share of the $1,000.000 purse, with the added benefit of clinching the coveted spot in the biggest race of the year in November. Fourteen well accomplished horses will take part in the race, with every horse having at least $480.000 in career earnings, and ten of them having already cleared the $1,000.000 mark. Therefore, this has the potential to be a classic of its own. Last year’s winner was Wahpekute Sioux, for Mb Stables, and he will be back to defend his title. We’ll talk more about him when we get to him, but it will be a while to get there as we look through the field. Here they are:
1- Excoriator (Jerry Garcia Racing, ridden by J Lezcano)- Excoriator had a memorable run through KYD preps last spring, and did finish in the top half of the field for the KYD despite not collecting a portion of the purse. As the year went on, he’d have a couple of close calls before he came here again, this time for the $300.000 Harrods Creek, where he went wire to wire in a three-length win. He’s been fine since then, and the speed figures have been excellent, but result wise, the trainer may find it a little underwhelming. This is a good spot to get that first win of 2025.
2- Eight West Party (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by R Bejarano)- Looking to turn his 50th career start into one of his biggest victories. The seven-year-old has run in the BC Classic before, qualifying in 2023, but not having a particularly good run. Unfortunately for the trainer, Eight West Party only has one win since then, coming in the Cigar Handicap last December. He isn’t typically beaten badly when he is out there, but his actual finishing position tends to be inconsistent, so I have to wonder how he will fare against this deep of a field. He wasn’t bad in the Whitney last August, his last Grade 1 attempt.
3- Bad Debt (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- The last time that Bad Debt ran here at CD, he would etch his name into the history books by winning the KYD. He ran for Hippyheart that day, and close to three months later, he would be sold to D J C Racing Stables for $725.000. He’s won two times since then, but not in one of the bigger races that had he would be in, such as the Travers or the BC Classic, a couple races where he finished out of the money entirely. Recently, he ran a big one in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, placing second to another former KYD winner, Quiet Return. Would love to see him build on that here at a track where he’s experienced his biggest glory.
4- Killer Instinct (Mb Stables, ridden by M Franco)- Probably not a name that you were expecting to see in the Foster, since Killer Instinct has raced on the turf exclusively with one exception, since August 2023 in the AP Million. His performance was great on the grass, and he comes here off of a win on that surface in the Grade 2 Man O War at AQU about six weeks ago. But Mb Stables has not become the game’s greatest trainer by just sticking with the status quo, so Killer Instinct moves to the main track. The one time that he did run on the dirt was recently, when he was second in the Grade 1 SA Handicap, and if this doesn’t go well, the trainer knows that he can return Killer Instinct to the turf at any time.
5- Senor Vinagre Y Agua (YME Stable, ridden by T Gaffalione)- Last time out, Senor Vinagre Y Agua picked up his first graded win, and it came right here at CD in the Grade 3 Blame. It was a smaller field, but a quality one, though he did have to share the winner’s circle with Lunar Victory after the race. He’ll see that one again but might need to show a little more than he did that day to beat a field that is as loaded as this one is. I don’t believe it’s an unreasonable ask for him to do that, however, as even though he may be a six-year-old, he seems to be improving with age at the moment.
6- Berlin (The Sidley Stud, ridden by G Corrales)- Came to life after The Sidley Stud picked him up in a $7.000 claimer, and now look at him, he’s a horse that’s just a bit shy of $2,000.000 in lifetime earnings. Finished off his six-year-old season in November by running in the BC Classic and picking up the fourth-place check as his stablemate got the win and then picked things up well here in 2025 by running second in the Pegasus World Cup down at GP. In his last race, Berlin was impressive in the PIM Special, with a wire-to-wire win. That’s his style, so look for him to be on or very close to the lead here.
7- Baffert (Royalty Stables, ridden by F Geroux)- Time now for me to take another look at Baffert, and the trainer is probably tired of me saying that he hasn’t won since the BC Juvenile while continuing to have so much tough luck along the way. Yes, at some point, that’ll change, and I will stop saying that, and I really thought that the Metropolitan Handicap was a perfect race for him earlier this month. But again, Baffert got a good finish in a top race, running third, and if he had the ninth furlong there like he does here than maybe that was his chance. Always should be considered as a threat to win, eventually he will.
8- Lunar Victory (Mb Stables, ridden by F Prat)- Finished in a dead heat with Senor Vinagre Y Agua here last month in the Grade 3 Blame. It would be the second win in five starts for Lunar Victory since he was picked up by Mb Stables in the auction for $600.000, coming six weeks after he won the BC Dirt Mile in November. The majority of his career has been spent running eight or nine furlongs, so he’s right at home for the Foster. However, like I said with Senor Vinagre Y Agua, it will take a little more to win the Foster than the Blame, given the depth of the field, but as a BC winner, that’s not a concern with this one.
9- No More Rattle (Bigchief Stables, ridden by D Davis)- Looking to bounce back after a lackluster performance in the Grade 3 PIM Special, but he is a horse that has won two our of five, and if he is entered here after that race, than clearly the trainer is not concerned about it. His last victory was an excellent one, coming in March at the Grade 1 SA Handicap, but the Grade 3 Ali, as well as the PIM Special, were flat efforts. We know the trainer is confident, but in a field that is as deep as this one, I need a horse who’s been better in their last two.
10- Blazing (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by Jo Dominguez)- Blazing ran here in the KYD and finished fifth last year, and then would go on to have an excellent summer. In the Winn, he would win, a month prior before an impressive victory in the Haskell, and there was nothing wrong with finishing third and within a length at the Travers in August. His hot stretch continued in the PA Derby, where he’d win again, making him seem like one of the better options for the BC Classic. After running in the middle of the pack there, he would again score a big win in the Pegasus World Cup. He’s only run once since then, so perhaps he fell off the radar just a little, especially considering it was a flat effort in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic. Maxmillion Farm has given him some time to rest, and he’d uncork an incredible work here at the start of the month. He’s appealing, but other than the Travers, he’s a win or miss the board entirely horse.
11- Big Bang Boom (Rock Creek, ridden by P Husbands)- Made a lot of noise in his last start, winning the Grade 2 OP Handicap with a come from behind effort, as is custom, in April. After a couple months to rest, Rock Creek is hoping his gelding’s run of finishing somewhere in the top four since October 2023 will continue in what is his biggest challenge to date. His only other time running in a Grade 1 was the SA Handicap this March, where he was third, so he can handle a strong field, but this seems a little deeper than that. It’s appealing that he always seems to be in the mix, and if his odds climb into the double digits again, he must strongly be considered.
12- Investment Center (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by R M Hernandez)- Ran here last month in the Grade 2 Alysheba, but never got going in the mud and was soundly beaten. Investment Center does seem to be a horse that needs it to be dry, and with a 45% chance of rain as of press time, we can’t say that it will be for the Foster. Four of his five wet track starts have interestingly come right here at CD, as well. If it’s dry, then we can see the side of him that won the Clark here back in late November, which is the last time he has been in the winner’s circle.
13- Wahpekute Sioux (Mb Stables, ridden by P Lopez)- Last year, Wahpekute Sioux made it official that he would be running in the BC Classic by winning the Foster, and he would go on to run second to Spankersville in the big race in November. But those are not the only highlights of an incredible 2024 for the now five-year-old, as he also won the Grade 3 PIM Special and the Grade 2 Lukas Classic, the latter happening here while in the slop. He wasn’t good in his two starts to begin this year, but any possible concerns about him that there may have been were erased with an impressive wire to wire win in the Grade 2 Gold Cup at SA last month, beating Spankersville along the way.
14- Hurricane Ridge (The Sidley Stud, ridden by M E Smith)- Since we mentioned Spankersville with Wahpekute Sioux, he’s a horse that we could have seen here, but The Sidley Stud is rolling with two others instead. Hurricane Ridge was acquired by the trainer for $300.000 in the December auction, six weeks after he struggled in the BC Sprint. He’s been in long sprints for the trainer since then, as he had been before, so he doesn’t really have much experience at this distance and especially not against this caliber of opposition. But he did have a nice mile work at PRX in April, and that’s what helped in the decision to bring him here. However, despite being named “hurricane”, Hurricane Ridge does not seem to like it if there is a singular drop of rain on the track, so the trainer will be monitoring the forecast closely.
Prediction: 10-8-7-13
— NS
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES