Two Key Stakes Will Impact the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic

The Road to the 2007 Breeders' Cup Thoroughbred World Championships in Oceanport, N.J., goes through several towns, among them Florence, Ky., and Elmont, N.Y.

On Saturday, the 14^th Kentucky Cup Day of Champions at Turfway Park features five stakes worth $825,000 that will likely impact an equal number of BC races next month at Monmouth Park.

But the headliner is the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic, which has served as a key prep for a half-dozen horses that hit the board in the BC Classic from'98 through'06. However, five KC Classic winners had to settle for second- or third-place money.

Ironically, Cat Thief, third in the '99 KC Classic, won the big one. I was at Gulfstream Park eight years ago when Pat Day guided the son of Storm Cat to victory despite a bumpy ride to the finish line 1 ¼ lengths in front in the 16^th BC Classic. The winner, eighth choice among the 14 entries, returned a generous $41.20.

The main attraction in this year's KC Classic is Kentucky Derby champion Street Sense. Carl Nafzger finally made it official after considering several races, including the 89^th running of the Jockey Gold Cup at Belmont on Sunday.

Nafzger decided he'd rather ship the son of Street Cry the shorter distance between Churchill Downs and Turfway instead of to Belmont. And, the trainer added, he preferred Street Sense going 1 1/8 miles instead of 1 ¼ miles.

Street Sense has been breezing well at the Louisville track. On Sept. 16, he went four furlongs in 48 3/5. Four days later, he traveled five furlongs in 1:00 3/5.Working the Travers winner twice in four days isn't unusual for his stable, Nafzger told Brisnet.com. "I always do that when I want a good work in and sharpen him up. We just wanted a good work and he worked like clockwork?"

His main opposition in a likely small field is Hard Spin, winner of the King's Bishop at seven furlongs on the Travers undercard. However, the son of Danzig has finished behind Street Sense twice in dirt routes-the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

At Delaware Park on Sunday, Larry Jones' trainee breezed five furlongs in 1:01 2/5. Hard Spun captured the Lane's End at Turfway six months ago in his only outing on a synthetic surface.

Meanwhile, Street Sense hasn't won in two tries, finishing second and third on Keeneland's Polytrack as a juvenile and a sophomore. But both preps preceded victories in last year's BC Juvenile and this year's Run for the Roses. Derby.

Remember that Street Sense has never finished out of the money in 11 starts, going 6-3-2 and earning more than $4 million.

On Sunday at Belmont Park, there are four stakes worth more than $2.3 million that will send even more hopefuls to the Breeders' Cup.

The feature attraction is the $750,000 Gold Cup that will pit two of trainer Todd Pletcher's best: Lawyer Ron, the nation's top older handicap horse with back-to-back triumphs in Saratoga's Whitney and Woodward, and Curlin, victorious in the Preakness while hitting the board in the other two legs of the Triple Crown.

Among those hoping to pull an upset are Political Force, winner of the Suburban who later ran fifth in the Woodward; Sun King, second in the Woodward; and Brother Bobby, runner-up in the Oaklawn Handicap and the Iselin BC Stakes.

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