Arrogate “In Good Shape” in San Diego Aftermath

Less than 24 hours after champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), North America's richest all-time Thoroughbred money earner, crossed the wire a puzzling fourth as the 1-9 favorite in Del Mar's San Diego H., Juddmonte Farms manager Garrett O'Rourke reported that the international superstar emerged from the race no worse for the wear. O' Rourke said he conferred with trainer Bob Baffert via text Sunday and received positive news about the colt's condition.

“All is good physically, so I think we'll just take a few days to regroup and see how he is then, but health-wise, he seems to be in good shape,” O' Rourke said on a Sunday afternoon phone call.

Arrogate never truly got involved in the race beneath Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith and offered little response when given his cue on the far turn. The 4-year-old was not persevered with down the lane and crossed the wire 15 1/4 lengths behind wire-to-wire winner Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky).

“These are situations where you'd love for horses to be able to talk and tell you what it was,” O'Rourke added. “I think Mike is scratching his head, I think Bob is scratching his head a little bit. Your biggest fear is that it could be something physical, and that doesn't seem to be the issue. So to me, that's the big relief that we had to get over. I think now we figure out exactly what went wrong. Bob is more along the lines of thinking that it was a speed-favoring track, maybe, and he just didn't have him quite tight enough. There's a lot of factors that you can point to, but it's all supposition.”

The San Diego represents the second defeat of Arrogate's career and first since finishing third in his Apr. 2016 debut. The hulking gray enjoyed an unprecedented rise to the top of the game that included four consecutive Grade I/Group 1 tallies in the Aug. 27 Travers S., Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Classic, Jan. 28 Pegasus World Cup and Mar. 25 Dubai World Cup. He was making his first start since the World Cup Saturday.

As for the future, Arrogate could follow his intended course and make his next start in the GI Pacific Classic S. Aug. 19. should he train willingly in the coming weeks.

“We'll just go on with him,” Baffert told the Del Mar notes team Sunday. “As long as he's working well and nothing comes up, we're going in the Pacific Classic. I wanted to give him a race here, thinking it would be a great workout for him, but the Pacific Classic is the main goal.”