by Mike Curry
Claimed for $50,000 in July, Cost of Freedom rewarded his new connections with a lucrative score on Saturday in the $250,000 Ancient Title Stakes (G1) at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park.
The five-year-old Cee’s Tizzy gelding sprinted to the lead in the stretch under Tyler Baze and capitalized on the head start he got on 9-to-10 favorite Street Boss. Cost of Freedom accelerated to a 1 1/2-length advantage at the eighth pole and had plenty left to hold off fast-closing Street Boss by a half-length for trainer John Sadler and owners Gary and Cecil Barber.
“Street Boss was the horse to beat and I wanted to get the jump on him,” Baze said. “At the five-sixteenths pole, I looked behind me and decided to go and it worked out perfect. He’s a very classy, very nice horse.”
Cost of Freedom stalked a spirited pace from fourth early in his graded stakes debut as Esperamos, Idiot Proof, and Delta Storm dueled an opening quarter in :21.27. Multiple Grade 1 winner Street Boss trailed the six-horse field early and launched his bid with a sweeping move on the turn.
Cost of Freedom slipped through between horses entering the stretch and surged to the lead while Street Boss was forced to circle foes before unleashing his closing bid. Cost of Freedom shook free in early stretch and held on gamely in the closing strides to snap Street Boss’s five-race winning streak.
Cost of Freedom completed six furlongs in 1:07.53 on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface. The Ancient Title win earned Cost of Freedom a starting spot in the Sentient Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.
Winner of the Triple Bend Invitational Handicap (G1) and Bing Crosby Handicap (G1) in his previous two starts, runner-up Street Boss finished 1 3/4 lengths clear of Grade 1 winner In Summation.
“A good race for him—a good Breeders’ Cup prep,” said Street Boss’s jockey David Flores. “I would have liked to have won it, but second is next best.”
Cost of Freedom won a 6 1/2-furlong claiming race on July 28 at Del Mar, where Sadler claimed for $50,000 on behalf of the Barbers. Cost of Freedom entered the Ancient Title off a 5 3/4-length romp in a six-furlong allowance race at Del Mar on August 9 in his first start for his new connections.
“It was a gutsy claim,” Sadler said. “Mr. [Gary] Barber liked his race record. I was a little concerned that he hadn’t run that many times, but he was always very good. He was always right there. He’s a horse that likes synthetics. He won the day we claimed him, and then we ran him back, and he set a track record. My thought was just to give him plenty of time.
“That’s another huge effort. Thirty days [between now and the Breeders’ Cup] looks a little close at this point, but he should be fine.”
Out of the winning Moscow Ballet mare Freedom Dance, he improved to six wins in ten career starts and boosted his earnings to $344,152 with the $150,000 winner’s share.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor