When Jeff Bloom went to Ocala in March, a 2-year-old City Zip colt caught his eye.
“He had a commanding presence, both physically and mentally, and he was very mature,” Bloom said of Majestic City, whom he purchased for $180,000. “I loved the way he moved out and he looked like a horse that would be ready early.”
Ready
early he was as Majestic City broke his maiden at first asking as the
even-money choice on May 21 at Hollywood Park and followed that with
victories in the Willard Proctor Memorial (at 1-5 odds) and the
Hollywood Juvenile Championship (G3).
Trained
by Peter Miller, Majestic City had his undefeated run ended in a
roughly run Del Mar Futurity (G1) on September 7 in which he finished
second behind Drill but was disqualified to third for interference in
deep stretch.
“That
looked like bumper cars,” Bloom said of the stretch run. “He got
knocked sideways, but he came out of the race completely clean. We got
very lucky.”
David Flores rode Majestic City in his first four starts, but Garrett Gomez will have the mount Saturday in the 98th running of the $400,000 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1).
“Our
goal is the Breeders’ Cup,” Bloom said of the decision to run here
instead of last weekend in the Norfolk (G1) at Santa Anita. “We
evaluated our options and thought he would benefit from the extra week
and he got in another work.
“Plus,
the purse here is $400,000 compared to $250,000 and that makes a
difference. He gets to run another race on an all-weather surface and as
well as he has run on it, it would be an advantage. There are a lot of
positives.”
The
Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity is a “Win and You’re In” race for the Grey
Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) to be run November 5 at Churchill
Downs.
“If
he runs well, we would most likely be staying rather than go back to
California and then come back again,” Bloom said. “That would allow him
time to get settled in and get acclimated.”