Road to the Big 'Cap

The first big prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap will be run Saturday when possibly seven horses go postward in the $150,000 San Pasqual Handicap. The Big 'Cap will be run Saturday, March 7.

Well Armed, one of the top older horses in training, is scheduled to headline a field that may include Magnum, Mostacolli Mort, Past the Point, Racketeer, Slew's Tizzy and Ferneley. The second big prep for the Big 'Cap is the $200,000 San Antonio Handicap, which will be run Feb. 8.

Tiago may wait to make his 2009 debut in that race, or he could go in a lesser stake or an allowance race. Another intriguing possibility for the Big 'Cap is Horse of the Year contender Zenyatta, who will soon head back into training.

Trainer John Shirreffs has hinted at the possibility of Zenyatta facing the boys at some point this year, but it's not a certainty. However, imagine the buzz on Big 'Cap day if Zenyatta, who's developed into one of the most popular horses in these parts in quite some time, was in the lineup. It could lure perhaps the biggest turnout for the Big 'Cap in a long time.

But it makes more sense for Zenyatta to return in the $300,000 Grade I Santa Margarita Invitational on March 14, or perhaps make a return appearance in a race she won last year -- the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in early April. It would make sense that a date with the boys would come later in the year when she's at full throttle, like maybe the Breeders' Cup Classic in her own backyard on Nov. 7.

Whatever, speculation figures to be rampant all season about when and if the sensational, unbeaten mare will square off against the boys. Such talk is good for a sport that needs all the positive publicity it can get.