LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sometime Saturday, I plan to close my eyes, hold my nose, then step up to the windows and bet a few dollars on one of the most hopeless looking horses in all the 15 races of the Breeders’ Cup.
That horse is Ice Box. He runs in the $5 million Cup Classic and if he’s less than 50-1 on the tote board, he’s an underlay.
His recent form — dead last in a field of seven, beaten 11 lengths in the Jockey Club Gold Cup — and his speed figure — so low it would be embarrasing to publish it — suggest he’s just taking up space in the field. But sometimes, to pen a pun, you have to think outside the Box.
The wiseguys said Wild Again, a 30-1 shot, in the first running of the Classic had no chance against the 3-5 Slew O’Gold, Well, Wild Again beat him.
They said Arcangues, at 133-1, was hopeless against the 6-5 Bertrando in 1993. Wrong. And as for the late Phil Johnson’s Volponi, don’t even mention him at 40-1 against Medaglia d’Oro at 5-2 in 2002.
At the barn yesterday I asked Nick Zito why he was even running Ice Box. Ever the philosopher, Zito replied, “My father used to tell me the most dangerous animal in the world is an underdog.”
Zito is living proof of the axiom. He has pulled more big price upsets in major races — Louis Quatorze, Birdstone, Da’Tara to name just three — than anyone in the business.
So Ice Box may or may not be his latest parimutuel miracle.
“He’s a live longshot,” Zito said. “This horse last year had one of his finest hours when he finished second in the Kentucky Derby over this track and the Classic’s mile and a quarter.
“He had a chip removed earlier this year and we didn’t get him back to the races till August. Now, we’re getting the rust off him. I love the way he is working. He is as live as can be.”
He will need to be, knocking heads against Uncle Mo, Havre de Grace, Flat Out, Stay Thirsty, So You Think, etc. But there’s a record here. Last year, Zito’s Cool Coal Man finished fourth at 33-1 in the Dirt Mile, his Fly Down ran third to Blame and Zenyatta in the Classic at 26-1 and Morning Line got pipped at the post in the Dirt Mile at nearly 6-1. Ice Box himself won the Florida Derby at better than 20-1.
The colt worked a bullet 5f in 1:00.4 at Saratoga prepping for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but in the race he came out like a snail and ran like one. “He lost contact with the field,” Zito said.
But how can that happen after drilling like a sprinter? “His jockey, Corey Nakatani, blamed himself for the ride, then begged to ride him back here,” Zito said. Since then, Ice Box has worked even faster, getting 5f in 59.1 seconds at the Spa. “He’s a scary 40-1 shot,” Zito said.
The Classic is jammed with so much speed the race could set up for a dead closer like Ice Box.
The trainer has more than Ice Box going for him. He will saddle Jackson Bend, the 7-2 second choice, in the Sprint. “He’s such a small horse and so gritty that he has become a very popular horse with the fans,” Zito said.