Game on Dude on his way to either Dubai or stay at Santa Anita to defend his title
Game on Dude, for the Grade 2 San Antonia Stakes could pose some serious questions for his large ownership group, that may after the race point him towards the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, to defend his title there, or ship him to Dubai to participate in the World Cup on 31 March, 2012.
The only problem in going to Dubai for Game on Dude is that the World Cup is scheduled at Meydan, and it will be run over synthetic surface, which obviously isn’t Game on Dude’s preferred surface, and on the poly track he had two starts in his entire career.
Once he finished second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup over the venue’s cushion track and then finished 4th in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
Both starts were made last year, and over the same distance of 1 ¼ miles. The Group 1 Dubai World Cup is also run over a distance of 1 ¼ miles over Meydan’s synthetic surface, and at least the connections have gone over the drill last year and would know what to expect from the 5-year-old gelding in Dubai.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky bred son of Awesome Again, out of mare Worldly Pleasure by Devil His Due, has been training great at Santa Anita for his first start of the 2012 campaign, the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes.
The San Antonio Stakes itself serve as a huge steppingstone to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, and the Bob Baffert trained gelding garnered the race last year under Chantal Sutherland, the first female jockey ever to notch the Big ‘Cap, who nearly became the first female jockey to pirate the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic sent at 14 to 1 last fall.
The Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap was Game on Dude’s first ever grade 1 race, and it was won in ultra-game fashion when Game on Dude came off the pace to nose out Setsuko to cover the 1 ¼ mile distance in 1 minute and 59.47 seconds.
It will be tricky for Bob Baffert after the San Antonio, because one feels it’s time for Game on Dude to join that exclusive list of horses who did well within the country and outside.
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