Decision upcoming on The Tin Man at the Breeders' Cup

Will The Tin Man get a chance at history at this year's Breeders' Cup? The 2007 Arlington Million runner-cup (and winner in 2006) and two-time fourth-place finisher in the Breeders' Cup Turf (2002, 2003) is one of the last offspring of 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed. The gelding is still going strong at age 9, as showing by his Arlington runner-up finish earlier this summer. He will be one of the favorites in the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship on Saturday at Santa Anita Park. And it will be that race that will determine whether he will return to the Breeders' Cup. The Tin Man scored his first Grade 1 victory in the 2002 Clement, followed that year by his fourth-place finish at the Breeders' Cup. However, after winning the San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2003, he went nearly three years without winning a race. He finished fourth in the 2004 Clement Hirsch and basically disappeared. But he has returned to form this year, winning the Shoemaker Mile Stakes, finishing second by a head in the American Invitational Handicap and second to Jambalaya in the Arlington Million Stakes.To prevent burnout, trainer Richard Mandella has spaced out The Tin Man's races this year after giving him almost eight months off after his win in the 2006 Clement L. Hirsch. Thus Mandella wants to see how his gelding performs this eekend in a race he has fared well in before deciding his Breeders' Cup fate. "No ticket is ever punched, on him particularly,"he said. "We have things we'd like to do, but never more than we think he should do. He'll have to run one of his best races this weekend or else we wouldn't think it would be strong enough to go to the Breeders' Cup." If The Tin Man does make it to Monmouth Park, he would be the first horse to have a four-year gap in between starts in a BC event and would match John's Call and Miesque's Approval as the oldest horses ever to appear on the Breeders' Cup program. "I'm counting on him running for at least two more years,"Mandella said. The oldest Breeders' Cup winner was a 7-year-old, the age at which Cardmania won the Sprint in 1993.