Steve’s Travel Diary – PART SIX
I’m on my way to sunny Californ-ia!
That lyric is from the The Beach Boys song – “California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-ia)” from the 1973 album Holland which was recorded in the Netherlands.
It is, incidentally, one of the most underrated albums of all time and I’ve been humming the toe-tapping California Saga, which evokes images of sun, surf and sand, for days as I prepare for Saturday’s 76th running of the San Diego Handicap (Gr 2, 8.5f).
Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) steps out, of course, for the first time since his Dubai World Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) win and I’m wondering what impact he’s had, or will have, on the American populace.
Arrogate chases his eighth straight win – since he was arguably unlucky to be beaten on debut – at Del Mar tomorrow. He’s won around A$22,000,000. A tally inflated by the arguably insane one race Gulfstream Park Pegasus riches but nonetheless whopping compared to Makybe Diva (Desert King) (c.$14.5m) and Winx (Street Cry) (c. $12.7m) – both garnered though so many more wins.
He’s the highest money winner to have raced in the States with US$17,084,600. Ironically the horse he’s eclipsed California Chrome (US$14,752,650), by Lucky Pulpit (Pulpit), is probably better known being a Kentucky Derby (Gr 1, 10f) winner (2014).
Arrogate didn’t contest a Triple Crown race. He hasn’t undertaken any traditional racing path to stardom.
Thus he may not yet have entirely won over the man in the street but a three race schedule at Del Mar including a Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr 1, 10f) defence will help as the San Diego meetings attract more widespread interest than most.
And Arrogate’s appearance certainly adds some spice. Enough to have Del Mar media manager Mac McBride more than optimistic. In fact, downright effusive.
“Del Mar is moving toward what some are saying is its biggest year ever. We’ve got seven weeks of top-notch summer racing, highlighted by the best horse in the world Arrogate, running not once, but twice for our fans. Then we’ve got our first ever edition of the Breeders’ Cup coming to town in November and, lo, mighty Arrogate is scheduled for another run with us. The best horse in the world three times! Just how lucky can a racetrack get!?”
McBride concedes that Arrogate might not yet be a household name but certainly has the drawing power for racing fans.
“For those in the racing biz, Arrogate is a full-out star. No doubt. But for those outside it in the U.S., he has yet to have the very bright light of “superstardom” shine on his big, grey head. He didn’t make the Triple Crown run, which is where horses get most famous in America but his summer and fall at Del Mar will be eligible to change all that. We’ll get that show up and running this Saturday,” McBride said.
Opening day, at Del Mar, on Wednesday drew a crowd below expectations so the Turf Club will be looking for some Arrogate inspiration on Saturday (USA time) when they will provide fans with posters of the horse.
The day one on-track attendance of 34,128 was the smallest opener since 2001, and the first time the opening-day attendance fell below 40,000 since 2004 but is still the third-largest attendance on the Southern California circuit this racing season.
It’s a low key return for the champ in a Group Two against just five opponents who are no better than handy and who are all evenly matched given entwined formlines. On exposed form, it would be a shock of monumentally seismic proportions should any one of them upset Arrogate.
So Saturday’s not going to tell us much more about Arrogate than we already know. And we do know that, via Gun Runner (Candy Ride) who was second to him in Dubai, that his form has been franked to some degree.
After all, Gun Runner has won three races by an aggregate of 15.5 lengths either side of that World Cup second.
But I’m not sure that Arrogate’s form, or for that matter Winx’s form, has yet been unconditionally endorsed as was the the case with Frankel’s (Galileo) Excelebration (Exceed And Excel) or Black Caviar’s (Bel Esprit) Hay List (Statue Of Liberty).
The next four months, in both hemispheres, will therefore be intriguing and hopefully illuminating. It’s unlikely that Arrogate and Winx will ever clash but we might be able to gauge them better should something emerge from Europe or Japan to test them in races like the Breeders Cup or the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m).