2012 Breeders’ Cup: Sprint preview

Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint
6 Furlongs, Dirt
Three-years-old and up
$1,500,000

Day: Saturday, Nov. 3^rd
Post Time: 3:58pm Pacific
TV: NBCSN

The Breeders’ Cup Sprint -- a six furlong mad dash from start to finish where anything and everything can happen in the blink of an eye. Every year the Sprint provides a ridiculously fast race for the fans and connections, and boxcar payouts for the gamblers.

Emcee’s connections opted for the Dirt Mile instead of the Sprint, removing one of the early speed horses from the equation. His defection doesn’t leave the Sprint devoid of pace as Fast Bullet, Gantry, Poseidon’s Warrior, Sum of the Parts and, last but certainly not least, Trinniberg have plenty of early foot to offer.

Amazombie is the defending Sprint champion after winning by a neck over Force Freeze at Churchill Downs last year. He’s had a solid year (5-2-1-1) and he loves the Santa Anita main track (8-4-1-1), so it’s tough to throw him out of the equation for a repeat.

Trinniberg is an excellent sprinter but he’s got some question marks heading into the Breeders’ Cup, specifically the fact that he’s 4-0-3-0 when racing at six furlongs. Over the past year and a half, Trinniberg has won three graded stakes races while running at seven furlongs but come up empty in every attempt at six furlongs. He hasn’t embarrassed himself at the distance but it’s hard to back a horse in the most difficult race of the year if he’s struggled to win at the distance.

The Lumber Guy is moving in the right direction coming into the biggest race of his brief career. He began his career with a victory at six furlongs over the inner dirt track at Aqueduct last January but spent most of the spring bouncing around two-turn races where he found moderate success. Trainer Michael Hushion gave him some time off after his 6^th place finish in the G2-Peter Pan on May 12 and brought him back in the G1-Vosburgh at Belmont, a tough spot to start after a layoff. The Lumber Guy was up to the task that day, cruising to a 1 ¼ lengths victory over Caixa Electronica and Poseidon’s Warrior and earning a big Beyer figure of 110. Some players might look at the gaudy speed figure from the Vosburgh and expect a bounce in the Sprint but we can’t discount the possibility that this colt is at his best when running six furlongs.

Trainer Bob Baffert returned Coil to six furlongs in the G1-Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 6 and was rewarded with the horse’s first Grade 1 victory since winning the 2011 Haskell. Coil is a perfect 3-for-3 in his career at six furlongs, with two of those races coming over the synthetic surface at Hollywood Park.

Capital Account has put together a fine season but hasn’t been able to win at the six furlongs distance in his career. That being said, he’s a California-based horse, was only beaten by a head to Coil in his last start, and could be a good bet to finish in the top three if he can get a good trip from his No. 8 post position.

7-The Lumber Guy (6/1)
4-Coil (5/1)
8-Capital Account (8/1)