What is it about the first week in October? This time last year, Sunnybank Memorial went into the Ark De Triumph<\/I> riding a 9-race winning streak that had incorporated seven Graded races (six Grade 1\u2019s). He had defeated all his contemporaries and was facing older opposition for the first time. The Ark signaled the end to a glorious sequence of wins that had stretched back to\u00a0March. Does this scenario seem familiar? We\u2019ll come back to this later.<\/SPAN><\/P> \u00a0 Firstly, let\u2019s review this extraordinary race. I mentioned in my preview that this race looked stronger on paper than both the two other Grade 1\u2019s taking place the same day and so it proved, with the winner posting a faster speed figure than both Bristol Rovers and Sunnybank Memorial, respective winners of the Ark De Triumph-G1<\/I> and Classic Turf Stakes-G1. \u00a0 In the race, Roidazoid broke quickly from the gate, connections wanting to make the most of a horse that had won over 2 miles last time out. The only horse that was prepared to go with him was Minesweeper. The jockeys of the other participants seemed unwilling to commit their mounts too soon and the leading pair opened up a gap of over 10 lengths to the rest of the field. As the leaders passed halfway, jockey N Hartel aboard Minesweeper felt the pace beginning to wilt as the blistering initial fractions started to tell on Roidazoid, and he quickly sent Minesweeper to the front. It was a bold move to make on a horse that was unproven at the distance but Hartel rode him with the confidence of a man who knew he would stay. Minesweeper proved a willing partner and the combination kept up a relentless gallop at the front. Looking in behind, the other jockeys were beginning to row away at their mounts and it was noticeable that journeyman jockey M Redden aboard Horseshoe Bay was throwing out distress signals with the horse not responding to his urgings. Only one horse emerged from the pack to throw down a challenge to Minesweeper, the leading older filly, Krishna.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Inexorably Krishna began eating into Minesweeper\u2019s lead but the 3yo colt wasn\u2019t stopping and the gap proved just too much for the filly to bridge. Minesweeper lasted home a length to the good over the filly, with a game Title Duke running through tired horses to finish 7 lengths behind the winner in 3rd<\/SUP>.<\/SPAN><\/P> \u00a0 Minesweeper had already proven his mettle in the Big Red Stakes-G1<\/I> by defeating arguably the best 3yo field assembled this year, outside of the classics. The number of winners to emerge from that race is phenomenal. He has now shown his capabilities at 12 furlongs and looks sure to have a major say in races over that distance in the future. If Horseshoe Bay is the 3yo version of Sunnybank Memorial then Minesweeper can be compared to Rain God. They have the same running style and both took the Big Red Stakes-G1<\/I> prior to being successful in a premier all-aged race in the fall. He will need a couple of the leading horses to bypass the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Turf in order to draw in, but that seems likely with a couple of trainers stating that the race looks too hot for their liking.<\/SPAN><\/P> \u00a0 So to the vanquished. Krishna ran a terrific trial for the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Distaff Turf and must have installed herself as the pre-race favorite for that event. She would be no forlorn hope in the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Turf itself. Both Title Duke and Arkansas Traveler ran as well as could be expected and are currently on the cusp of an invitation to the BB. They would be welcome additions to that field. In 5th<\/SUP>, Hey Zeus ran another of his frustrating races. Too far back early on, he was unable to make the necessary late headway to be a factor here. He has already sealed his place in the BB and it remains to be seen if his trainer is prepared to make the long journey to New York. <\/SPAN><\/P> \u00a0 But what of Horseshoe Bay? As I alluded to at the beginning of my piece, his record is startlingly similar to that compiled by Sunnybank Memorial last year. \u2018Memo shook off the spectre of his first defeat in 7 <\/B>months by going on to glorious success at the Breeder\u2019s Bowl, and his success in Saturday\u2019s Classic Turf Stakes-G1 <\/I>makes him the pre-race favorite for this year\u2019s contest. Like a prizefighter, Horseshoe Bay may have suffered a knockdown but he is not out of the fight. This horse is far too classy to have one race blight his season. Immediate reaction from trainer texasace<\/I> was to rule the horse out of an attempt at the Breeder\u2019s Bowl, an understandable response following such a disappointing run. However, I urge him to have a rethink. The Breeder\u2019s Bowl Turf has been won for the past two seasons by the leading sophomore of that year. Horseshoe Bay, although having been beaten for the first time by one of his own age, is still the leading light in the 3yo ranks and carries the torch for the classic generation. To not participate in the Turf would be to rob the race of much of its fascination.<\/SPAN><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Horseshoe Bay suffers first defeat over 12 furlongs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}