Masochistic Primed for O’Brien

By Bloodhorse.com

DEL MAR, Calif. (Aug. 25, 2016) — Masochistic, one of the top sprinters in 2015, made a strong return to racing in a July 8 allowance race at Santa Anita Park after a nine-month layoff and has been training forwardly for the $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes (gr. II) Aug. 27 at Del Mar.

The 6-year-old California-bred son of Sought After led gate-to-wire in his last-out win and finished 6 1/4 lengths in front, covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:13.74 under Mike Smith for Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable.

“Visually, it was very impressive, he looks like a different horse this year,” trainer Ron Ellis said. “He always used to be a bit of a run-off and it was nice to see how he settled for Mike. Even though they were going fast, (Masochistic) had his ears up in the air and was really relaxed, which was kind of a different thing for him.”

The result was vastly different from Masochistic’s previous start, when he finished a distant last of 14 in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

“He fractured a hind leg coming out of the gate,” Ellis said. “Mike said his hind end gave way at the start, and that’s why he ran so poorly. It was a hairline fracture, he didn’t appear lame or anything. To find it, we had to run him through a nuclear scan and the hind leg lit up on X-rays.”

Time off and the healing process led to the strong comeback in July, and now Masochistic steps into graded company again. He drew post five in a field of as many for the seven furlong sprint.

Outside Nashville (Rafael Bejarano), Cautious Giant (Santiago Gonzalez), Vyjack (Flavien Prat), and Indexical (Mario Gutierrez) complete the field.

“The smaller (field) the better for me,” Ellis said. “I know it doesn’t make for a very attractive betting race, but I don’t know if I’d be very excited about running against him right now.”

If all goes well on Saturday, Masochistic will be in for several weeks of training up to the Breeders’ Cup at his home track at Santa Anita.

“If he runs like I think he will (in the O’Brien), he won’t run again until the Breeders’ Cup,” Ellis said. “He won his grade I last year (Triple Bend at Santa Anita) off a two-month layoff and this will be a couple months before the Breeders’ Cup. He’s not a very big horse and he likes his races spaced.”

The Pat O’Brien is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. The six-furlong $1.5 million Twin Spires Sprint is the following day.

“It’s kind of strange that this is for the Dirt Mile, but I don’t think he’ll have any trouble getting into the Sprint,” Ellis said. “(The Sprint) is more money and he’s never been around two turns. I think he could get a mile, but it’s more money and the way he’s run at Santa Anita, I’d prefer the Sprint.”