Cup Spotlight: Selcourt

If John Sadler isn’t careful, he’s going to find himself with the favorite in three of Breeders’ Cup Saturday’s seven races…

Accelerate- Classic

Catalina Cruiser- Dirt Mile

Selcourt- Filly and Mare Sprint

While she doesn’t have a Grade 1 win to her credit just yet, Selcourt does have an impressive win at the race distance of 7F.  And that win in the Santa Monica came against Marley’s Freedom, who only came back from that defeat to win four consecutive races, three of them graded.  As for Selcourt, she’s undefeated on the year and seems to be getting faster.  If you’re looking for a knock, even a flimsy one, note that she has yet to race outside of Santa Anita.  And trainer Sadler has developed a reputation, fairly or unfairly, for not shipping and winning the big ones.  Also, what to make of the layoff?  By the time she enters the gate in the Breeders’ Cup, she won’t have raced in over seven months.  And with only six career starts, it’s not like she has a ton of foundation to fall back on.  This will be a tall task.

At the moment, with a long way to go and the field still very much TBD, I am looking forward to betting against Selcourt.  You have to respect the year Sadler is having, but I think when it comes to the smoke surrounding his perceived inability to ship and win, there might be some fire there.  Anything can happen between now and then, but I think Selcourt is shaping up as a play-against.