War Pass, Zito Ride Breeders' Cup Victory Into Early Favorites' Role for 2008 Triple Crown

Robert V. LaPenta’s War Pass, one of five 2-year-old double winners on the year, heads onto the 2008 Triple Crown trail as the leader of the pack by virtue of his dominating victory in the 2007 Bessemer Trust’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park.

War Pass puts trainer Nick Zito, a force in the Triple Crown races during the 1990s but somewhat quiet in recent years, squarely in the driver’s seat as the 3-year-old season beckons. As if training the Breeders’ Cup champion and the likely Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s top juvenile isn’t enough, Zito also has another top prospect, Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes champion Anak Nakal, who finished second in Aqueduct’s Grade III Nashua Stakes prior to his Grade II victory at Churchill Downs.

The wins by his top prospects take on added impact when noted that they took place on dirt surfaces, War Pass winning the Grade I Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park prior to running away with the Juvenile over Monmouth’s sloppy main track. And it’s always nice to have a victory over the Churchill Downs oval, as posted by Four Roses Thoroughbreds’ Anak Nakal. The dirt track victories get special notice this year, because of the switch to synthetic surfaces at Southern California tracks and two Kentucky venues.

Two of the five double winners made their marks on synthetic tracks. Salute the Sarge was a graded winner on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track and Del Mar’s Polytrack and Wicked Style scored his two graded victories at Arlington Park and Keeneland Race Course, both with a Polytrack surface.

The synthetic surfaces certainly have to be factored in when looking ahead at the 2008 Triple Crown. All three races – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – are contested over dirt tracks and the 2007 history shows that all the winners for all practical purposes were dirt track runners. In addition, the first three finishers in the Kentucky Derby each had a final workout over the Churchill Downs oval.

That kind of form held true on into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, where the first five finishers – War Pass, Pyro, Kodiak Kowboy, Tale of Ekati and Z Humor – had been running on dirt. The final six finishers had all prepped on synthetic surfaces.

Joining War Pass and Kodiak Kowboy as a double winner on dirt is Court Vision, who captured Churchill Downs’ Grade III Iroquois Stakes and Aqueduct’s Grade II Remsen for trainer Bill Mott.

Does all that rule out the usual East vs. West battle as the Triple Crown trail unfolds? That remains to be seen, certainly, but the potential for the loss of that kind of action seems to be there. It also raises the question of whether trainers in California, usually providing a Mother Lode of talent in Triple Crown competition, might find greener pastures, so to speak, in races east of the Mississippi this year, where most of the action occurs on traditional dirt courses.

Now that Rags to Riches has added her name to the list of Triple Crown race winners with her stirring conquest of males in the 2007 Belmont Stakes, it’s certainly not out of the question to consider some fillies when talking about the upcoming Triple Crown. Standing head and withers above the rest is the Bob Baffert-trained Indian Blessing, who was nearly as dominant as Juvenile winner War Pass while posting a front-running victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Once again emphasizing the dirt-vs.-synthetic factor, Indian Blessing won twice on the traditional surface, no doubt, leaving Baffert to ponder the right course for her as a potential Triple Crown prospect, or as a potential runner in Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Oaks. His home base at Santa Anita Park now has a Cushion Track surface.

As with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, dirt form outperformed synthetic-track style as four of the top five finishers in the Juvenile Fillies came to the race from the traditional surface. Only Tasha’s Miracle, who was fourth, gave hope to those from the other surface.

In the year’s final graded stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Country Star joined Indian Blessing and Pure Clan as filly double winners on the year. Like Indian Blessing, Pure Clan won her two stakes on the dirt, both at Churchill Downs. Country Star’s two wins, both Grade Is, came on synthetic surfaces – Keeneland’s Alcibiades Stakes and Hollywood Park’s Hollywood Starlet on December 15. Her dominating Starlet win in 1:40.54 on Hollywood’s Cushion Track blasted the record for the 1 1/16-mile stakes race of 1:41.80 set by Serena’s Song when the race was run on the traditional dirt surface. The victory set jockey Rafael Bejarano thinking Kentucky Derby for the daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker. Trainer Bobby Frankel would say only that she would be pointed to some races next May.

Nominations for the 2008 Triple Crown will be taken beginning Jan. 2, 2008, either electronically or by telephone. Beginning Jan. 8, representatives from Triple Crown Productions will be at various racetracks and training venues taking nominations in person from trainers or owners. Nominations during the early signing period, which closes at midnight Saturday, Jan. 19, cost $600 per horse. Nominations, at $6,000 each, will be taken during the late period, which closes at midnight Saturday, March 29.

-- John Asher