BC Dirt Mile – Grade I
1 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $1,000.000 Open 3 Year Olds And Up.
The last horse to finish in the BC Dirt Mile would officially be recorded as being 4 lengths and well below a second behind the winner making this a race where inches would decide who finished where. With those sorts of margins, you could say that no horse failed to perform and that the race engine itself was the difference which is probably a good assessment of this race.
This is how they finished and who ended up with the money and who ended up with hard luck stories:
1st Seydoux II Arindel Hernandez R M
Despite being beaten in the Lukas last time, I had a feeling that the 1.35 and 4 mile work he put up prior to that race would be key over this furlong less trip. We saw a lot of closers come wide and late for placings but not many really threaten the win, so it was essential to be close to the speed without expending too much energy to have a chance of winning a BC race this year and this five-year-old followed the plan perfectly. This time last year he had been taken out of a claimer in a zero-win season so this victory only a year later seemed unlikely but as some five-year-olds can do he found a steep journey up his development curve this summer and was a worthy favorite and winner today.
The margin of a neck in a race where noses and heads separated most of the runners was good enough and this win will be a shot in the arm for his sire State Police who was well represented at this year’s Breeders Cup.
2nd Terabyte Fractious Velazquez J R
The trainer will be breathing a sigh of relief after this race because although he was beaten today, he looked to increase his value tenfold as a sire and somewhat justified the huge price that the trainer paid for him. Stalking the lead, he raced his gate perfectly and very nearly pulled off the win in a tight finish, but I really feel that his performance on the track will come second place to his influence as a sire in coming years.
3rd Tehran Mb Stables Centeno D E
Got in off the ballot and ran a great race considering he wasn’t even in the race the night before. Sitting close up from his wide gate looked as if it may find him out but he did what many others couldn’t do from the same position in rallying late and very nearly getting up. This was a great run considering he was last in the Phoenix in his previous start, but we have learned to ignore blips in form here at HRP and it looks like that effort was just an anomaly. As a four-year-old he may improve further as he turns five so look out for this one next year.
4th Twin Rackets Alydar Stables Wilson E J
Dropped back to last in that frustrating Race engine move that sees them almost disappear from the screen in order to glue themselves to the rail. The fast pace however gave him a chance he and flew home from the clouds to only be beaten a half-length. Ten more yards and he may well have won which will be no consolation to the trainer, but they can look forward to the rest of the year with this classy three-year-old.
5th Dayton Pan Farms Smith M E
This was a great run by the lightly raced three-year-old running a wide berth the whole way and sticking on really gamely. I think he has a bright future, and his record will show he was beaten less than a length in a BC race in his first season of racing.
6th Ginger Clean The Sidley Stud Geroux F
If you are drawn one and go back, you WILL have traffic problems at HRP and that’s what happened and was a little expected with this one. He rallied to be beaten just a length which was a big effort but big fields like this and an inside gate will always hinder these closing types.
7th Skylight Sword Onlineracingclub.com Castanon J L
Went hard to the lead early but ran far too quickly through the first quarter for some reason, as there seemed no direct pressure, so as expected tired in the closing stages. As the speed had held up all BC he still managed to stay within a length of the winner and was only inches off a paycheck so this was a decent effort. I guess the question the trainer may be asking is why he managed to win the Ack Ack in a much faster time running similar splits but today he couldn’t sustain that effort, but I do feel that maybe have happened because of that early sprint from the gate. Of course, the question may be, why did he run so hard in the first quarter when he didn’t need to?
8th Stormy Liberal Big Guns Stables Prat F
Went back flew home but was never closer than his finishing position despite being pretty close to the winner at the end.
9th Noble Faerie Riggins Racing Husbands P
This one has a serious allergy to the wet as shown in his last two races, beaten nearly 20 lengths last time in the wet and beaten one length this time in the dry. His running style will always be hit and miss and today with just about every runner he missed by very little.
10th Prevent Mb Stables Franco M
It sounds like I am repeating myself here but this one went way back then flew home and was tenth beaten an official length and never better.
11th Dancing Rattler Martyparty Gaffalione T
Like the ace draw this one went back and found trouble the difference being Ginger Clean was sixth and this one was eleventh.
12th Sirius Black Arindel Saez L
On pace when winning the OK Derby last time, closer today, that pretty much sums it up. Never really got into things with an horrendous traffic Jam through the last quarter.
13th Anna Da Artist Smokey Stover Lopez P
Not really sure why this one ran pretty poorly; he wasn’t beaten far but did travel in a position that has not done well in this BC.
14th Puppet Master Spankys Barn Van Dyke D
Since a great third in the grade one Foster his form seems to have fallen off a little, could be the seven-year-old in on that downward journey but his works do not suggest that so maybe it is the next race that will really tell us.
Categories: BC 2021-2023
