Gio Ponti connections still hold on Breeders’ Cup decision
For most people finding a horse good enough to run at the Breeders’ Cup is enough of a task.
Throughout the year many are called but few, very few, are chosen. As a dual champion at last year's Eclipse awards, Gio Ponti has been targeted at Churchill Downs from the start of the year. But which target?
Given the expansion of this meeting in recent years there would appear to be something to suit just about any horse who has six Grade One victories on the cv already. The problem is that none of the races quite makes best use of the five-year-old’s skill sets and connections are looking at what race will best advertise his merits before the eventual switch to stallion duties.
Then there is the small case of money. Well, quite a large case of it really.
The 12-furlong Turf was never really a serious thought so it comes down to the Mile, which weighs in at a cool $2million, but that does not stand close to outweighing the appeal of the Classic with its $5million purse. However, there are other considerations in terms of what race will best suit a horse whose career racing record is 18 runs on turf, with 10 victories, and four on a synthetic surface, winning one.
Go for the Mile and he is racing at what would be the minimum distance. Granted Gio Ponti won the Grade One Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland two weeks ago and had Courageous Cat two-and-a-quarter lengths away in third. Go back a year and Courageous Cat was a half-length second to Goldikova in last year’s Mile at Santa Anita but he has not run since March and may have needed the race. And, as has been proven several times already this year, the European turf runners have often been dominant in North America; a clean sweep of the three Grade Ones at Woodbine on Saturday the latest reminder of their strength.
Gio Ponti finished second to Zenyatta in last year’s Classic, on the Pro-Ride at Santa Anita, but this year would have to make his debut on dirt facing not only the unbeaten mare but the likes of Blame, Quality Road and Lookin At Lucky.
It could look as though owner Shane Ryan, of Castleton Lyons, and trainer Christophe Clement would be riding their luck with a crack at the big prize. But while a victory in the Mile could only enhance Gio Ponti’s prospects as a stallion, a Classic win would take his appeal to a different level. Ten years ago Giant’s Causeway came from Europe with six Group One victories on turf but his appeal to American breeders shot to new heights when he finished a neck second to Tiznow in that year’s Classic.
The current solution is to maintain a holding position and Gio Ponti will be cross-entered in both races at the pre-entry stage on Monday. Speaking to the Daily Racing Form, Stuart Fitzgibbon, commercial manager at Castleton-Lyons, said: “At the moment our intention is to enter in both the races.”
The final decision for entries is due on November 2nd and by then Gio Ponti will have completed all his serious work, which poses its own problems for Clement as he prepares the horse in New York before shipping him to Churchill.
Clement will begin the final prep work on either Sunday or Monday but has still to decide whether to stick to the grass, which has been the preferred surface thus far, or try a new twist and go for the dirt option. “Obviously it would be nice to know which race, but we will be fine,” he said.
A Classic conundrum indeed.
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