Midwest Thoroughbreds & The Pizza Man Eye California

One of the most popular horses in training over the past few seasons, Midwest Thoroughbreds' top turf gelding The Pizza Man (English Channel) went into last weekend's GI Northern Dancer S. at Woodbine at a relative all-time low. A picture of consistency throughout his career and a winner 16 of his first 26 starts through his 6-year-old season (2015), the multiple Grade I winner did not show his routine brilliance in his first four 2016 starts.

Unable to hit the board in the GI Gulfstream Park Turf H. (fifth), GII Wise Dan S. (fourth), GIII Stars and Stripes (fourth) and sixth in a GI Arlington Million defense attempt, the Eclipse Award finalist for 2015 champion turf horse showed signs of life when taking the Northern Dancer in workmanlike fashion Sept. 17, running down and holding off Grade I winners World Approval (Northern Afleet) and Wake Forest (Ger) (Sir Percy {GB}), respectively. Winning courageously from between his aforementioned rivals–under the guidance of first-time rider Flavien Prat–the homebred returned to the winner's circle for the 17th time and pushed his career earnings to more than $2 million under the tutelage of trainer Roger Brueggemann.

“I was really happy for him and for Roger,” said Midwest principal Richard Papiese. “I thought we were too close to the front at first, but [World Approval and jockey Julien Leparoux] were walking the dog and Flavien was smart enough to not ask him for anything or to chase. He just allowed him to do it all on his own. He had plenty left and he refused to let [Wake Forest] get past him.

“What helped him win was Wake Forest coming up on the outside,” Papiese continued. “We're thinking about putting a pair of cheater blinkers on him next time so he doesn't hang. It would be all new for him and I think we need to get special permission off a win to do that, but I think they could help him a little.”

A course and (12-furlong) distance prep for the $1-million GI Pattison Canadian International, the Northern Dancer sets the sizable bay up for a possible return to Ontario Oct. 16. It also earned him a 118 Equibase Speed Figure–one point below his top career figure–and also puts the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Nov. 5 in the conversation. Last year, at 6-1 odds, The Pizza Man was fifth, beaten 4 1/4 lengths, in America's top turf event. This year, the Turf's purse has been raised from $3 to $4 million and will take place in California, the state in which The Pizza Man closed out his 6-year-old season with a dominant two-length victory in the GII Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar.

“The horse is doing great and came out well,” Papiese reported. “He galloped today and he's full of himself. Roger, Jim [Schenk, racing manager] and I will talk about it and see what the best option is. We don't duck horses or people. If you want to be the best, you have to beat them and while I would always love to run in races like the Breeders' Cup, in Dubai, Japan or Royal Ascot, we will let him tell us and I won't put him in the wrong place. First on the radar is the Canadian International and second is the Breeders' Cup. We may run in one or could run back and do both. He loves it out there [in California] I know that if he is given a good ride, he loves the grass and will show up.

“He might run a little bit, maybe three or four times, next year as an 8-year-old,” he continued. “Earlier in the season is better than later for him, with Dubai being a possibility if he gets invited again. He's getting older, so we will take our time with him and Jim and I will listen to Roger, who says he's doing great. What's good about these long grass races and the fact that he has only turn six or seven times per year is that he probably has the legs of a 4-year-old at this point. When he's not happy and doesn't want to be a racehorse, we'll oblige him. Right now he wants to be a racehorse and he still loves to win.”

The victory could not have had better timing for the Midwest team. Always at or near the top nationally in victories and purses earned, the operation's mettle and patience were being tested as health complications afflicted both Papiese and Brueggemann.

“This was really trying year for us,” Papiese explained. “We go from a situation where Roger had hip surgery and then in March I started having vertigo issues and also tore my achilles tendon. You start to feel like you're 90 years old and on top of that we had some bad racing luck and The Pizza Man was very unlucky. So, he definitely was carrying a few hundred extra pounds the other day.

“It's great having him move forward this time of year,” he continued. “You want to be peaking right now and he is starting to get there. Going in that strong, you feel better about the next race. It was great to see him in the winner's circle again and put some of those demons to rest. He gets very upset when he doesn't get his picture taken and then go to the test barn. He thinks he's supposed to take a picture after every race and is hell to deal with when he doesn't.”

If The Pizza Man does not head to California for the first week of November, he will likely be shipping out there one month later as part of Midwest's new expansion to California racing. With a limited presence in California before, it will now head westward with a full string, adding to its presence in most of the major American markets. Another string will be heading to Florida with Armando De La Cerda.

“I'm sending Roger out to California on Dec. 1 and and we will make sure he has the stock to compete,” Papiese said. “We have some decent 3-year-olds and 2-year-olds and some quality claiming horses with him I think that should set him up to be successful. We will likely only have about 20 to 30 horses with him, as he's definitely a hands-on trainer, and we'll back him up 100%. He'll be shipping into Del Mar and then heading to Santa Anita. He'll be as stocked as [stable trainer Danny] Gargan is in New York. We love it out there and we've done well before, not only with The Pizza Man, but obviously winning the [2014] GI Breeders' Cup [Sprint] with Work All Week (City Zip). We'll also be sending De La Cerda to Gulfstream Park and he will train at Palm Meadows to be [the base of] our Florida operation.

“Over the last few years we've been moving toward more allowance and stakes horses and this is all part of that,” Papiese concluded. “We've done what we've said we're going to do. We raised the quality, shortened the strings and hopefully things keep going well for us.”