From its birth in 1984, the Breeders’ Cup has been the battleground for choosing champions.
But if things go right for a pair of colts this weekend at Belmont Park, this year’s Breeders’ Cup Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs could be an afterthought. Because if Lemon Drop Kid wins the Woodward Stakes on Saturday and City Zip captures Sunday’s Futurity, they could take home Eclipse Awards no matter what happens the rest of the year.
Both horses are riding winning streaks in graded stakes and come into this weekend off memorable performances at Saratoga.
Lemon Drop Kid, winner of the Belmont Stakes and Travers last year, kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with a two-length romp in the Widener at Gulfstream Park, but the stewards, in a controversial decision, disqualified him to fourth.
After dead-heating in an allowance race at Aqueduct, the Kid got a new rider as Edgar Prado replaced Jose Santos. Third in the Pimlico Special next out, Lemon Drop Kid was outfitted with blinkers, which proved to be the final piece of the puzzle.
In succession, the son of Kingmambo won the Brooklyn Handicap by 71/4 lengths and the Suburban by 21/2, then beat a top field in the Whitney at Saratoga by two.
“He’s finally found out what racing was all about,” trainer Scotty Schulhofer said. “He was just out there playing before Edgar and the blinkers. He’s a real racehorse now. The whole package has come together.”
Lemon Drop Kid’s ultimate goal is the Breeders’ Cup Classic, preceded by the Jockey Club Gold Cup. But if he can make it four straight in the Woodward against a field that could include just three other horses – Behrens, Gander and dangerous West Coast invader Skimming – he could lock up the championship for best older horse and possibly Horse of the Year.
“He’s proved what I’ve always thought,” Schulhofer said after the Whitney. “He’s the best horse in America.”
City Zip is far and away the most accomplished 2-year-old in America with five wins, two seconds and a third from eight starts, including consecutive victories in the Tremont at Belmont and the Sanford, Saratoga Special and Hopeful at the Spa.
The first three of those came by daylight margins, but the Hopeful was the most impressive. Seemingly dead as he dropped out of contention on the far turn, City Zip circled the field and came again in the stretch with a furious rally to dead-heat with Yonaguska, who looked home free.
“How about the adversity he overcomes?” said City Zip’s trainer, Linda Rice. “He was just eating them up down the lane.”
As a son of the sprinter Carson City, City Zip could be hard-pressed to handle the mile and a sixteenth of the two major stakes for 2-year-olds that follow the mile Futurity, the Champagne and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Of the 16 2-year-old champion colts since the Breeders’ Cup was inaugurated, 12 won the Juvenile and only two did not run in it: Forty Niner in ’87 and Maria’s Mon in ’95.
