TRACKMASTER'S COUNTDOWN TO THE BREEDER'S CUP

The Longest Mile

by James Quinn

Among the several factors that render the BC Mile the most difficult of the championship races to penetrate, perhaps most distracting is the absence of Grade 1 turf miles in the U.S. A perfectly legitimate procedure for class evaluation is to identify the horses that have won multiple Gr. 1 stakes, but the approach does not apply to the Mile. When Lure won the Mile for the second time in the mid-1990's, the single Gr. 1 title in his record was the BC Mile the previous year, and he was the most talented U.S. grass miler of modern times.

The alternative is to credit multiple Gr. 2 grass miles in the states and demand at least one outstanding Gr. 1 grass mile of European imports. By that standard alone, the main contention in this year's Mile includes Dansili, Indian Lodge, Ladies Din, Muhtathir, and War Chant. Although War Chant looked strong winning Oak Tree's Gr. 2 BC Mile on grass Oct. 14, he had not run since May 6, arrives at Churchill on a bounce pattern, and will be a definite underlay; out.

If we add Gr. 2 winners having an under-24 final fraction, that includes Altibr, and if we include distance winner of Gr. 1 stakes that might throttle back to a mile effectively, that includes Manndar, who has placed in both miles he has attempted at Newmarket.

The high Quinn Turf Figure goes to Manndar, whose first choie is the turf marathon, but if he purses the Mile will be my first call. The 4YO colt was bothered throughout the stretch in the Arlington Million and won a pair of Gr. 1's two-and-three back with final fractions of 23 flat and 35 1/5 seconds.

First call if Manndar does not go is Andre Fabre's Dansili, who has lost Gr. 1's by less than a length to Kalanisi, Giant's Causeway, and Indian Lodge, three of the most talented horses in Europe, all of them superior to the American brand this year. Indian Lodge is a superb miler, but obviously prefers a soft turf. If the turf is hard, or firm, no play on Indian Lodge.

In this race, I usually play my top two choices to win and key each to win and place in trifectas. I box the other contenders to place and show. It's good coverage at modest cost and should pay four figures if it hits.

Horses that do not figure strongly enough for me include Affirmed Success, Arkadian Hero, Distant Music, Hap, KIng Cugat, North East Bound, and War Chant, as well as any of the also's that might draw in.

All articles in the series:

• Part 1 - Steve Davidowitz (Distaff, Juvenile Fillies, Mile and Sprint)
• Part 2 - James Quinn (Classic)
• Part 3 - Steve Davidowitz (F/M Turf, Juvenile, Turf, and Classic)
• Part 4 - Tom Brohamer (Distaff)
• Part 5 - James Quinn (Turf)
• Part 6 - James Quinn (Mile)
• Part 7 - Tom Brohamer (Juvenile)

TrackMaster, an Equibase Company, is pleased to present COUNTDOWN to the BREEDERS' CUP, a six part series of articles from expert handicappers and authors Steve Davidowitz, James Quinn and Tom Brohamer.

TrackMaster has all the tools to help you tab the winners on Breeders' Cup Day, Saturday November 4: TrackMaster Plus, TrackMaster PP's, TrackMaster Flashnet, Powerpicks, A + Reports, On-Target Sheets and of course Winners' Circle Selections, including full card Breeders' Cup analysis and betting recommendations from James Quinn, Tom Brohamer, Steve Davidowitz and others. There will be a consensus report consisting of up to 8 handicappers for one low price.

All TrackMaster and related products and services have free samples and demos you can view or download.

Don't forget, you can follow your favorite horses progress with the TrackMaster/Equibase Virtual Stable, and get e-mail every time a horse in your stable is going to run.

Breeders' Cup pre-entry files are now available for all products, with final files to follow next week. For information about any of the above just go to www.trackmaster.com

Article courtesy of Trackmaster.com. Breeders' Cup logo courtesy of the Breeders' Cup Limited.

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