By DRF.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 31, 2016) — California-bred Masochistic drew the 7-hole in a field of nine for Saturday’s $1.5 million Grade I TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.
He is by Sought After, out of the Unusual Heat mare Trotinette, was bred by Francoise Dupuis & Louise Julian, is owned by Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable and is trained by Ron Ellis.
He has eight wins in 13 starts, earnings of $772,550 and is coming off a win in the Aug. 27 Pat O’Brien. He was 14th in this race last year.
Ellis held his breath when the name of the horse was being announced in post 1.
“I got a little scared when the letter M came out of his mouth for the rail hole,” said Ellis, who’ll send out the speedy Masochistic as one of the favorites in the Sprint. “I didn’t want to be drawn inside the other speed.”
Fortunately for Ellis, it was Mind Your Biscuits who drew the rail, with Masochistic ultimately being assigned post 7 for the six-furlong Sprint.
A field of nine was drawn for the Sprint, although in all liklihood only eight will go to post following the announcement earlier in the day that Joking had come down with a fever shortly after arriving at Santa Anita and was expected to be scratched from the race. If only eight start, it would be the second time as few as only eight horses contested the Sprint. Midnight Lute defeated only seven rivals to win the second of his back-to-back Sprint titles here in 2008.
Trainer Bob Baffert will send out two of the eight expected starters in the Sprint, the 3-year-old Drefong and Lord Nelson, who’ll likely vie for favoritism with Masochistic.
Chad Summers, managing partner for the connections of Mind Your Biscuit, said he had no issue with his horse breaking from the rail.
“The post really shouldn’t affect us because of our running style,” said Summers. “It’s just a matter of how they go. The front-runners all drew well, but they’re going to be going fast, and we’ll be coming at the end.”