The Grade 3 mile and a sixteenth $100,000 Affirmed Stakes is showcased in California Saturday at Santa Anita and the race takes on a personal note. I was lucky enough to watch the great Affirmed train at Santa Anita early in his Triple Crown season and it was unforgettable.
I lived a hop, skip and a jump from Santa Anita and the morning workouts at the track was always on my agenda. Affirmed’s chestnut coat and the way he glided over the track was a thing of beauty.
Affirmed, of course, won the 1978 Triple Crown. He was one of three horses that won the Triple Crown in the 1970s. Secretariat completed the holy triple in 1973, 25 years after Citation won the Triple Crown in 1948. The year before Affirmed’s success, the $17,000 purchase Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown.
It would be fitting if the Affirmed Stakes winner this year shows a big heart. That was Affirmed’s calling card. The Laz Barrera trainee was also known for his rivalry with Alydar. They met 10 times including in all three Triple Crown races.
As a two-year-old, Affirmed won seven of his nine starts under the teenager Steve Cauthen, who was nicknamed Wonderkid. His exploits earned him the Eclipse Award as the champion juvenile.
My experience with Affirmed started with his three-year-old campaign on the West Coast. He took an allowance race, the San Felipe Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby. Even after such a resume, Alydar was made the 6-5 favorite in the Kentucky Derby but Affirmed held off Alydar’s fast-closing charge to win by just under two lengths. In the Preakness Stakes Affirmed went right to the front, held a short lead entering the stretch and held it to defeat Alydar by a neck.
Now it was Alydar’s final shot in the Triple Crown Series to defeat Affirmed in the Belmont Stakes. His trainer removed Alydar’s blinkers for the Belmont, figuring that if Alydar got a better look at Affirmed, maybe he would get by him.
In the Belmont, for more than six furlongs the colts raced neck and neck, pulling away from the rest of the field.
Alydar got his nose in front at mid-stretch, but just as Affirmed appeared to tire, Cauthen went to a left-handed whip, something he had never done before in his eight rides on Affirmed. Affirmed won by a nose to become racing’s eleventh Triple Crown winner.
The Affirmed Stakes was originally called the Silver Screen Handicap but was renamed for the Triple Crown champ in 1993.
Bob Baffert has won this race four times but he will not be represented in 2017 and only five will compete for the $60,000 first prize.
Doug O’Neill has a pair of entrants and one is the rail runner B. Squared. He tried nine furlongs on the grass last time and that distance could have just been pushing the envelope. Considering his cozy post, would expect his rider Mario Gutierrez to be on the offensive from the sound of the bell. B Squared has a right to have a solid career. His full-brother Ralis took the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes and was second in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. Ralis went on to earn over $400,000.
The other O’Neill runner if the long-fused racer Term of Art. He broke his maiden at Santa Anita but he was life and death to do it by a nose. He showed his class winning the Grade 3 Cecil DeMille at Del Mar but he was only in the money once since and he didn’t scare the winner that day.
Quiet Dude seems to have his work cut out. He graduated in a maiden $75,000 claimer but he was not impressive in his last two races. His trainer Jorge Periban brings him back quickly. This runner just ran third last Saturday in a softer spot. Quiet Dude’s pedigree is better than most. He is a sibling to Third Dawn, who was Grade 2 placed and won a stakes at Del Mar.
Arms Runner is bringing his guns to the Affirmed Stakes. He did something in his debut that is not simple and that is winning sprinting on the tricky hillside course at Santa Anita. He proved it was no fluke repeating on that course last May in the $79,000 Desert Code Stakes. He has to prove he can go this long and he has to show can win on dirt. The pedigree suggests he can get the job done. His sibling Calculator is a proven router, was Grade 1 placed, took the Grade 3 Sham and earned nearly $600,000.
Clearly the one to beat in the Affirmed Stakes is Battle of Midway. Both of his wins have come at Santa Anita. He ran well in the Santa Anita Derby when second to Gormley. That runner returned to run a decent fourth in the Belmont Stakes. Battle of Midway was dismissed in the Kentucky Derby at 40-1 but he almost blew up the tote board. The racer was right there early on in the race and held on to run third. The Kentucky Derby also came back as a ‘live race’. A live race is perceived as a race that is solid because runners out of that race win their next starts. The sixth finisher in the Kentucky Derby won the Belmont Stakes next out and the eighth finisher took a Grade 3 at Churchill Downs next out. Also, the fourth finisher in the Kentucky Derby was only beaten a head next out in the Preakness Stakes.
Battle of Midway has been put through his motions by Jerry Hollendorfer with several sharp works. Flavien Prat will be aboard and he won with this runner in March.
The way the Affirmed Stakes shapes up is that B Squared will be forwardly placed with Arms Runner and Battle of Midway on his throat from the get go. Battle of Midway was less than a length off the lead at one point in the Kentucky Derby and he figures to be close up again. Prat will look to keep him in the clear, let the other do the heavy lifting on the lead and then swoop and succeed in the Affirmed Stakes.
Good luck.
