Marathon

In the Marathon we have the match-up of Americans trying to stretch their speed vs. Europeans trying to adapt to U.S. synthetics. I am going to have to side with the latter. The Americans are not very impressive in this race, side from the ornery roan, Delightful Kiss, who has been BURNING up the track at Golden Gate since his win in the All American.

I expect Zappa to go to the front, but he will have plenty of company with Booyah and Talamo. He will be tough to catch, despite this, but I believe the Euros will be coming. Sixties Icon, if he likes the surface, is the class of this field. There are few trainers better at getting a horse to run well in America than Jeremy Noseda, who has been pointing this English classic winner to this race for a while. Alas, I do not think he will win. That money is going toward to other Euro, Muhannak. This colt is by Chester House, whose offspring really love synthetics. This makes sense, being that Chester House could run on anything, had a huge kick, and was lightly framed. Lightly framed horses have an innate advantage over a deep bouncy surface. They can recover more quickly from each step, as well as kick very strongly through the lane. Ventura was a perfect example of that.

I am looking at Muhannak over Sixties Icon in an All-Anglo exacta. Delightful Kiss is honest and coming up to a big race, but I still think his best race is a length shorter than the aforementioned. Right behind Delightful Kiss I would put pace-setter Zappa and Neil Drysdale's (whom we know is ALWAYS dangerous on Breeders' Cup day) charge, Cedar Mountain, who is 1-for-2 on synthetics. This colt is here for a reason, but I think he will fall short of a distance/synthetic star in Muhannak.

1. (5) Muhannak 15-1
2. (4) Sixties Icon 2-1
3. (3) Delightful Kiss 6-1
4. (6) Zappa 5-2
5. (8) Cedar Mountain 6-1