The front-running Sharp Azteca has won Graded races since well beaten by Bob Baffert’s Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Metropolitan at Belmont in June. But the latter had a tough race and has needed time to recover subsequently while though Coolmore-owned stablemate Cupid won here in August but came up short at the highest level last time. ACCELERATE could only manage third in last year’s renewal but has posted a couple of impressive efforts since the application of blinkers. Closely matched with Mor Spirit on earlier form and the winner of three of his four outings at this venue, he may well be good enough to record a first Breeders’ Cup win for trainer John Sadler. Practical Joke landed a Grade 1 over 7f at Saratoga in August but has yet to win in five attempts racing around two turns while the remainder have plenty to find at this level, including Grade 3 winners Battle Of Midway and Awesome Slew.
Iron Fist (USA) Tapit H out of Successful Outlook.
Giant Expectations (USA) Frost Giant colt out of Sarahisittrue.
Sharp Azteca (USA) Freud colt out of So Sharp.
Gato Del Oro (USA) Medaglia D'oro colt out of Funny Feeling.
Awesome Slew (USA) Awesome Again colt out of Slewfoundmoney.
Mor Spirit (USA) Eskendereya colt out of Im A Dixie Girl.
Cupid (USA) Tapit colt out of Pretty 'n Smart.
Accelerate (USA) Lookin At Lucky colt out of Issues.
Battle Of Midway (USA) Smart Strike colt out of Rigoletta.
Practical Joke (USA) Into Mischief colt out of Halo Humor.
