Will the travels take its toll on Cape Blanco? It remains to be seen in the Arlington Million on 13 August at Arlington Park
It is a given that if the 4-year-old son of Galileo, Cape Blanco runs in the Arlington Million on 13 August, 2011, like the way he ran in the Grade 1 Man O’ War Stakes at Belmont Park on 9 July, 2011 then he will most certainly win the Arlington Park million
dollar pursed fixture.
The 29th running of the 1 ¼ mile $1million Arlington Million grass race will be held at Arlington Park and will go underway on 13 August, 2011.
The racing fans and bettors do know the fact that if he runs anywhere close to what he did at Belmont Park, Cape Blanco would positively win it, but what they don’t know is that right after the Man O’ War Stakes the Aidan O’Brien trained chestnut colt returned
to his stables back in Ireland.
The two foreign horses, Cape Blanco and Treasure Beach arrived at Arlington Park all the way from Ireland this week, and turned in the mildest of workouts in front of their fans.
The Aidan O’Brien 3-year-old colt, Treasure Beach is favourite to win the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington Park on 13 August, 2011.
The O’Brien’s team management revealed that the horses have settled in just fine and that the team is happy with their travels. The questions which will be answered after the race, that the travels back to Ireland and then from Ireland back to United States
after running a high profile race, would take its toll on Cape Blanco or not.
The Arlington Million, features a compelling and most talked about re-match between the Man O’ War Stakes one-two finishers, Cape Blanco and Gio Ponti. The 2 to 1 favourite Gio Ponti, has won the event back in 2009, and finished second last year.
Last time these two champion colts met was in the Man O’ War Stakes in New York Belmont Park. Cape Blanco under Jamie Spencer derived early speed from the outside draw to the race on leader’s quarters.
With 4 furlongs away from the wire, Jamie Spencer recognized his cue and shook up Cape Blanco to take on the leader. Disputed for the lead, and soon edged a lead slightly before inside 2 ½ furlongs out.
With a furlong remaining, Spencer drove Cape Blanco strongly to seal the race by leading again and the pair made sure they hit the wire first as they ran on well under pressure.
Gio Ponti under R A Dominguez waited and was held off the pace for about 6 lengths, and headed nicely after that with 3 furlongs to go. It was a disappointing finish to the end of the race for Gio Ponti as he never showed enough pace to challenge Cape Blanco.
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