By Bloodhorse.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 30, 2019) — As trainer Phil D’Amato prepares Acclimate for his engagement Nov. 2 in the $4 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park, the California-based trainer is hopeful that the friendly confines of “The Great Race Place” in Arcadia, Calif., will be a blessing for his 5-year-old Acclamation gelding.
“I know we’re a longshot in there,” D’Amato said about the California-bred, “but we have the homecourt advantage and we hope to maximize it.”
But is there an advantage for the two Californians in the field of 12? Especially with Acclimate and United both priced at 20-1 in the morning line?
Talk to an East Coast trainer about shipping west for the Breeders’ Cup and you’ll generally hear some consternation, especially if they have dirt horses.
It’s a different tale on turf. Easterners, in particular trainer Chad Brown, have thrived on California turf courses. Seven of Brown’s 12 Breeders’ Cup wins have come in turf races on the West Coast.
Californians, for their part, have done well in the turf sprints. D’Amato’s lone Breeders’ Cup win in 14 tries came in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) with Obviously. Californians have won that race the last three years and seven times in its 11 runnings.
Yet for older horses in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T) and Turf it’s a different story. The last California-based winner of the Mile was Singletary in 2004 and in the Turf it was Johar, who finished in a dead-heat with High Chaparral in 2003, even though the Breeders’ Cup has been held on the West Coast eight times since 2003.
“There’s a lot more long-distance turfers in New York and Europe and in the end it boils down to class,” D’Amato said. “There’s been some good horses that come over here for the Breeders’ Cup and that makes it tough on us.”
D’Amato is hoping Acclimate’s familiarity with the turf course at Santa Anita will pay a big dividend Saturday. In 10 grass starts there, he has four wins, a second and a third. Bred by Old English Rancho, Sal Berumen and Patsy Berumen and owned by the Ellwood Johnston Trust and Timmy Time Racing, Acclimate has also won at a distance longer than the 1 1/2-mile Turf, using his sharp early speed to take the 1 3/4-mile San Juan Capistrano (G3T) in June.
Bought for $30,000 by Tim Henry from the Havens Bloodstock Agency consignment at the 2015 Barretts October Yearling and HRA Sale, Acclimate was also a game second in the John Henry Turf Classic (G2T) in his final Breeders’ Cup prep over the course. He set a quick pace of 1:09.75 for the first six furlongs and finished second by a length to Cleopatra’s Strike in the 1 1/4-mile test on Sept. 28.
“He’s got a lot of speed and can carry it a good ways. He should be helped by the way the turf course is playing because it’s favoring speed,” D’Amato said. “His performance the last time was really good. He went just a little too fast and that compromised him, but he hung in for a good second. I expect a good performance for him. The one thing about this horse is that when he runs at a long distance, anyone who runs with him, they haven’t been around at the top of the lane. So chase us at your own peril.”
As much as Acclimate faces a major challenge in trying to beat Brown’s Horse of the Year candidate Bricks and Mortar and trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Investec Epsom Derby (G1) winner Anthony Van Dyck, both of them will be facing new conditions in the Turf. They, and most of the field, will have to deal with three turns, a downhill run to the first turn and a crossover on dirt that Acclimate and United, who was third in the John Henry, have already experienced.
“He has come down that hill a couple of times and any time you have that under your belt I think it’s an edge,” D’Amato said. “Hopefully it will work to our advantage.”
In a year famous for former maiden claimers turning into winners of million-dollar grade 1 stakes, Acclimate will try to become the latest member of that club.
The son of the Boundary mare Knows No Bounds arrived at D’Amato’s barn last fall after he won a $20,000 maiden claimer on dirt and his original trainer, Kenneth Black, retired. D’Amato ran him back in a $25,000 claimer on the turf and after Acclimate posted a 1 1/4-length victory, his days in a claimer were over. After another eight starts in starter races and allowance optional claimers, Acclimate made his stakes debut in the San Juan Capistrano.
Two starts later he won the Del Mar Handicap (G2) over 1 3/8 miles and now his career record stands at six wins in 17 starts with earnings of $365,872.
“He’s definitely a rags-to-riches horse,” D’Amato said, “and hopefully we can continue that story Saturday.”