Horse racing: Commentator has center stage in Mass Cap

Commentator, one of Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito’s favorite horses, will be the headliner in today’s $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs in Boston.

The 7-year-old gelding has battled injuries throughout his storied career, but still has won 12 of 19 career starts, including his second Whitney Handicap in July at Saratoga Race Course. In that Grade I effort, Commentator beat Student Council by 43⁄4 lengths and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 120, the highest such rating by any horse this year, according to a report in the Daily Racing Form.

Commentator is the only graded-stakes winner in the field, and Suffolk Downs officials were concerned that the Tracy Farmer-owned horse scared off most of the worthy adversaries.

“I keep telling everyone there’s good news and bad news,” said Suffolk vice president of racing Sam Elliott in an NTRA press release. “The good news is that we’ve got Commentator. The bad news is we’ve got Commentator.”

John Velazquez gets the ride on the 3-5 morning-line favorite.

Rounding out the field will be Dr. Pleasure (7-2), Cuba (6-1), Won Awesome Dude (8-1), Beck and Call (20-1), Volcanic Force (20-1) and Rivensrunrylee (15-1).

Trainer John Ward told Blood-Horse that he welcomed the opportunity for Dr. Pleasure, a winner in an allowance race at Saratoga last month.

“Well, we’re in post 6, and if the horses to both sides of us clear early and set out for Commentor, it will help us,” Ward said. “It will be a fair event, and we’re improving.”

When contacted at his barn by telelphone Thursday afternoon, Zito laughed at the notion that

nobody wanted to face Commentator.

“I don’t know about that. Maybe they’re all running something different,” he said. “But I guess it’s a compliment. I do know that the Gold Cup is a week later, but it’s nice to know everyone is talking about Commentator.

“He’s one of the best horses,

obviously, that I’ve ever had. He’s certainly one of the most courageous, with everything that has happened to him over the years.”

Zito said that the long layoff — the horse hasn’t raced since the Whitney — is customary for Commentator.

“He gets a lot of time off, and I think that keeps him going. He likes it. That’s what makes him go this far and long,” said Zito. “It’s a blessing to have him around.”

Based on the Whitney victory, Commentator has already qualified for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. But the rest of the horses in the field are shooting for an automatic berth. The Mass Cap is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win-and-You’re-In program.

So far this season, Commentator has finished in the money in all four starts, with three victories and a second. He’s earned $725,700.

The big question during Tuesday’s NTRA conference call was wheather Commentator will actually go to the Breeders’ Cup,

despite the synthetic surface at Santa Anita.

Zito doesn’t like synthetic surfaces, but Farmer told reporters on the conference call that he was leaning strongly toward going to Santa Anita.

DEFENDING HIS CROWN

Good Night Shirt attempts to defend his title in the Grade I $150,000 Lonesome Glory Steeplechase Sunday at Belmont Park.

A second Eclipse Award could be hanging in the balance for Good Night Shirt, who is shooting for his fourth straight Grade I win and sixth overall. It will be his first start in more than four months, but trainer Jack Fisher is unconcerned.

“Nothing’s different,” he said in a NYRA release. “He’s the same horse, or at least I think he’s the same horse as last year. Everything’s gone pretty much the same. Last year, the ground was hard, so I was going to Fair Hill [training center] a lot. This year, I have the track and the ground has been better lately, but he likes anything. I could have put him in a glass track, and he would have been happy.

“It’s easy to train a horse like him. You don’t have to look for races, they’re right there for you every year. He’ll be giving away a lot of weight, but hopefully, he’ll run the same kind of race as last year. Then, hopefully, we’ll go to the Far Hills and the Colonial Cup just like last year.”

Dark Equation looks to be the major threat to Good Night Shirt. He was second in the Grade II A.P. Smithwick, and won the Grade I New York Turf Writers Cup, both at Saratoga.

Rounding out the field are Duke of Earl, Red Letter Day, Dallucci, Best Attack, Sermon of Love and Mon Villez.

BIG MONEY A DRAW

Although she’s already proved she can run with some of the best fillies in the country, Proud Spell will drop down to compete for some big money when she runs in the $750,000 Grade II Cotillion today at Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack.

Proud Spell has already won four times this season, including a pair of Grade I’s, the Kentucky Oaks and the Alabama Stakes.

“You know, with Philadelphia Park just kind of being in our backdoor, I mean, we’re an hour from Philadelphia, so the Fitz Dixon

Cotillion was on our list early,” trainer Larry Jones, who is based in Delaware, told Blood-Horse.

“They’ve put up a lot of money for it, like I said, it’s close — it makes every kind of sense in the world to be here.”

COMING OUT PARTY

With speed to burn, Forest Command should be one of the favorites to win today’s $500,000 Grade II Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

Forest Command is coming off a a six-length victory in an allowance race at Saratoga, and he earned a Beyer Speded Figure of 96.

“The thing we don’t know is how gifted he is,” said trainer John Ward in an NTRA conference call. “Monarchos, I know how good he was, and the mare he’s out of, Forest Secrets, is a Grade I winner and won the Acorn, the same weekend Monarchos ran in the Belmont. So, I know the genes are there, and both of them wanted to go long, so it should be a match made in heaven.”

Forest Command (3-1) is the early-line second favorite to

Macho Again (5-2).

“I don’t think the stretch out [to 11⁄8 miles] is going to bother him. Both riders that have ridden him, both Robby Albarado, who will ride him in the Super Derby, and Edgar Prado, who kind of filled in for Robby [at Saratoga], both just came back just amazed with what kind of raw talent this horse had.”

The rest of the field includes Stungbythestorm, My Pal Charlie, Mambo Meister, King Darius,

Numismatist, Star Production, Real Appeal and Golden Yank.

All the horses will be assigned 124 pounds.