Cowboy Cal takes to the Pro-Ride in the Oak Tree Mile (Benoit)

Trainer Jenine Sahadi was about to make her first start in a Breeders’ Cup race in 1994 as I tagged along one morning to watch her well-supported Mile contender Megan’s Interco go to the track. A winner in four of five career starts at a mile on grass, the California-based star was about to get his first taste of the Kentucky bluegrass at Churchill Downs.

But not on this morning.

Sahadi sent Megan’s Interco out with the main-track horses for both of his pre-Mile workouts in 1994, so I quizzed the likable trainer as we looked on. “Why not work him over the turf today since the course is open after training hours for Breeders’ Cup workers?”

Seemed like a pretty straight-forward question to me.

“We didn’t come all this way from California to find out on a Monday at 10 o’clock in the morning that he hates this turf course,” Sahadi responded with a smile. “If he doesn’t like it, I want to find out with a million dollars on the line Saturday.”

And, with that, a very valuable big-race lesson was learned by this eye. From that point forward, I never felt confident that a trainer had full certainty of the decisions they were making. The naivety once held as a fan was replaced by a true conversation on the “inside.” Just like you and I as horseplayers, even trainers at the grandest levels are making decisions that are trial-and-error. And sometimes they go to trial with no clue … and are content to do so.

Sahadi certainly has proven herself as a quality horsewoman. Though the Mile’s second wagering choice Megans Interco ran a solid fourth to Barathea that year, the trainer would go on to finish second in the next autumn’s Mile with Fastness, and then win the 1996 and 1997 Sprint editions with Lit de Justice and Elmhurst.

Fast forward to our preparation for the 2009 Breeders’ Cup and the practical application of this knowledge. It helps a horseplayer try to unravel the artistic handicapping angle that I call “trainer intent.” Those who like to crunch figures and fractional splits may have no use for this, but those of us who like to look at the big picture of handicapping apply the “intent” debate every time we crack open our past performances. Why is this horse entered here? Why are they running this horse long today after so many sprints? Why did they go back to this particular jockey?

With this year’s Breeders’ Cup back on the Pro-Ride surface at Oak Tree at Santa Anita, one would expect a massive influx of horses from around the country heading to Arcadia early to get a spin over the racetrack. After all, Oak Tree offered Grade 1 preps in the Classic, Ladies’ Classic, Turf, Filly and Mare Turf, Juvenile, Juvenile Fillies and Sprint divisions, while providing a Grade 2 Prep in the Mile.

By my count, only 11 horses were truly brought from out of town to get a test drive on the Pro-Ride and turf courses in these eight major preps. They accounted for a resounding record of 11: 4-0-2 with eight of the 11 finishing in the superfecta.

Goodwood (Pro-Ride): Gitano Hernando-1st; Parading-4th; Mine That Bird-6th

Lady’s Secret (Pro-Ride): Cocoa Beach-3rd

Oak Leaf (Pro-Ride): Bickersons-3rd

Norfolk (Pro-Ride): Jung Man Scott-4th

Ancient Title (Pro-Ride): Gayego-1st; Atta Boy Roy-7th

Clement Hirsch Turf Championship (turf): Presious Passion-1st

Yellow Ribbon (turf): Lemonette-7th

Oak Tree Mile (turf): Cowboy Cal-1st

This tells me that there are an awful lot of trainers around the country and world who still don’t know if their horses will like the Pro-Ride or turf surfaces at Santa Anita, and don’t want to come to California to find out until the millions are on the line. In fact, don’t be surprised if many of them put in their final major workouts at home before traveling to California and going through only light paces in the days leading up to the championships.

And don’t be surprised if the locally based horses and those who came to town early dominate the Breeders’ Cup 2009 because of it.