Sure, the Breeders’ Cup Classic has a purse of $5 million, which makes the $1 million purse of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile look rather paltry by comparison. But the 1 1/4-mile Classic also has a Formidable Foursome to overcome in Zenyatta, Blame, Quality Road, and Lookin At Lucky. The Dirt Mile has … well, it doesn’t have horses like that.
But it isn’t the disparate level of competition that has trainer Richard Mandella leaning “80 percent” toward the Dirt Mile over the Classic with Crown of Thorns. What does is distance and timing.
“He has only been two turns twice in his life,” Mandella explained, “once when he was 3,” in 2008, “and once in his last start. He has only two races in him this year. I wish I had one more race in him this year. Then I’d go to the Classic. But he is ready to run a mile, not a mile and a quarter, and I’m trying to win one with him at this point.
“But,” Mandella added. “if he was ready to go a mile and a quarter, I’d have no problem running him in the Classic no matter who was in there.”
This is so noteworthy because Crown of Thorns is a dangerous horse. He would be far from as hopeless longshot in the Classic even as that race is presently constituted, but he projects to be the favorite in the Dirt Mile. Understandably so. Despite an abbreviated campaign last year that restricted him to sprint races, Crown of Thorns almost made the most of it, missing by a nose in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. And this year, Crown of Thorns was also a narrowly beaten second in the Grade 1 Pat O’Brien and Grade 1 Goodwood.
If there is one thing to wonder about with Crown of Thorns, it would be that while he has been limited to just five starts since, he actually hasn’t won a race since the Robert Lewis Stakes in early February 2008. Mandella, however, is not concerned.
“Not at all,” he said. “After 10 months off, I asked him this year to go seven-eighths in a Grade 1, and then I asked him to go a mile and an eighth in a Grade 1. I’ve asked him some serious questions. I’ve asked him to improve. And he has done well. He is not a hanger or a cheater.”
Of course, the other thing to consider with Crown of Thorns is that the Dirt Mile will be his first start on natural dirt. Then again, the fact that he ran so well in the Goodwood on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track, which is thought to be very close to dirt, should allay some of those concerns.
“He’s a very good horse,” Mandella said. “I firmly believe he will run well on anything I put him on.”
