Fed Biz flies late, sets track record in Pat O'Brien

Kaleem Shah's Fed Biz stormed down the center of the track to overhaul 4-5

favorite Goldencents in Sunday's Grade 2, $251,750

Pat

O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar, eclipsing the seven-furlong track record set in

this very race in 2008. Under patient handling by Martin Garcia, the Bob Baffert

charge got up in a final time of 1:21.12 on the Polytrack and shaved .05 off

Lewis Michael's track and stakes mark.

Since Lewis Michael won for trainer Wayne Catalano, Baffert has been

unbeatable in this race. Fed Biz became his fifth consecutive Pat O'Brien

winner.

Fed Biz also garnered an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, with

the Pat O'Brien being a "Win and You're In" event. Most recently fourth in the

July 20 Eddie Read on turf, the beautifully-bred son of Giant's Causeway became

the second Eddie Read alumnus to book a Breeders' Cup ticket this weekend. On

Saturday, Eddie Read runner-up Vagabond Shoes captured the Del Mar Handicap, a

"Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Turf.

In the Eddie Read, Fed Biz was softened up by a fast pace. He was on the

better end of that scenario Sunday, and kicked off a big-race double for Baffert

and Garcia, completed by Game On Dude's tour de force in the Grade 1 Pacific

Classic.

Going into the Pat O'Brien, much of the attention focused on the

three-year-old Goldencents, who had just failed by a head in the July 28 Bing

Crosby. Trainer Doug O'Neill announced that Goldencents would get a rider switch

from Kevin Krigger to Joel Rosario. When Rosario suffered a broken foot in a

spill at Saratoga Friday, Pat Valenzuela picked up the mount on the heavy

favorite.

Fed Biz, once a 2012 Kentucky Derby contender before being sidelined, is now

two-for-two on the Del Mar Polytrack. His previous success came in the one-mile

El Cajon last August in his comeback from a six-month layoff. His fall campaign

featured a third in the Indiana Derby, but he failed to perform up to that level

when eighth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile

and a sixth in the Malibu.

Regaining his form in the January 12 San Fernando at Santa Anita, Fed Biz was

all heart when battling to a narrow decision over Tritap and Guilt Trip. After a

third to stablemate Guilt Trip in the February 2 Strub, he switched to Santa

Anita's turf, placing third in the March 2 Frank E. Kilroe Mile and a near-miss

second in the April 6 Thunder Road. Fed Biz reverted to dirt for the May 27

Metropolitan Handicap, winding up a well-beaten fifth at Belmont Park, and went

back to turf in the Eddie Read.

A $950,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, Fed Biz has now bankrolled

$540,496 from his 14-5-1-3 line. The bay colt was bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck

Stables.

Fed Biz is out of the stakes-winning Wild Again mare Spunoutacontrol, whose

first registered foal, Spun Silk, scored a stakes victory in 2005.

He hails from a star-studded female line, as his second dam is the winning

Mr. Prospector mare Yarn. She is best known for producing Grade 1 victor and

noted sire Tale of the Cat; Irish champion and English highweight Minardi; and

Myth, the dam of U.S. and European champion Johannesburg, who would also go on

to become a top sire.