Arrogate | Horse Profile
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Arrogate
Arrogate was born on April 11th, 2013 and is by Unbridled’s Song out of Bubbler. With a high pedigree, the gray foal was sold for $560,000 to Juddmonte Farms as a yearling and dispatched to California where he would train with Bob Baffert.
Bypassing starting during his two-year-old season to mature, Arrogate would make his debut as a three-year-old, one week after his third birthday. He would place third in his first start, a 6-furlong test, before winning three straight allowances over 1 1/16th miles through the summer of 2016. That would prime Arrogate for his stakes debut in the 2016 Travers Stakes.
Compared to his rivals in the 2016 Travers Stakes, who had mostly taken part in the Triple Crown season, Arrogate was an unknown commodity with 10/1 odds. This challenging field contained 2016 Belmont Stakes winner Creator, 2016 Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator, Gun Runner, Connect and Destin. It was quite a shock when an inexperienced Arrogate took an early lead and never let up.
Arrogate would bury the Travers field by 13 ½ lengths in a final time of 1:59.36, which set a track record at Saratoga for the 1 ¼ mile distance and a race record as well. It wasn’t just that Arrogate had broken a 37-year old record at Saratoga, his speed rating was virtually off the charts. A new superstar had been born.
Bob Baffert and Arrogate’s connections wasted little time in announcing that they would challenge for the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic, which meant that they would go toe-to-toe with California Chrome. Undefeated throughout the 2016 season, California Chrome had re-established himself as the strongest racehorse on dirt, in the entire world. Racing fans couldn't have asked for a better season climax.
The Classic draw awarded both horses the strongest odds of anyone in the entire field. California Chrome was the even money favorite at 1/1, while Arrogate was inches behind at 5/2. In the race itself, California Chrome would stride out in front and look to have the secured a win coming down the stretch, until Arrogate unleashed a surge that caught Chrome at the wire for a thrilling half-length victory. Both would finish ahead of the remainder of the field by 10 lengths.
Meeting once again in the newly minted 2017 Pegasus World Cup, Arrogate and California Chrome’s second clash wouldn’t produce the same excitement. Arrogate galloped away with an easy victory as a 7/5 victory in the $12 million race while California Chrome would fall to 9th and be summarily retired. Months later, Arrogate would travel overseas and score a win in the $10 million Dubai World Cup, before returning to challenge in the 2017 San Diego Handicap. One year prior, California Chrome had followed that exact pathway to build up to the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
However, Arrogate showed up to the 2017 San Diego Handicap uninterested and would fall to fourth behind eventual winner Accelerate. Not only was this the second loss in Arrogate’s career, it was his second defeat against Accelerate, who had finished in second ahead of the Juddmonte Farms colt in their first career race. To further the question of talent displayed in 2016, Arrogate would lose to Collected in the Pacific Classic, but finally finished ahead of rival Accelerate.