Cal Cup as BC preps?
 

Two Cal Cup winners come back to win on BC Saturday: BC Sprint winner Dancing in Silks comes off a win the Cal Cup Sprint and the Cal Cup Turf mile winner The Usual Q. T. (dreadful name) wins the Volante H (renamed the Oak Tree Derby, for some reason. Why change a race named for one of Lucky Baldwin's best runners, who is buried on the grounds? Especially for such a generic name. But I digress.) Who would have thought that Cal Cup form could have any relevance at all to the BC races?

that is because this is the pro cushion, santa anit turf breeders cup. horse coming from dirt tracks or not from cal or euro turf dont belong here, maybe they can have their own b/cup like next year

[ ] The Oak Tree Derby is a BC race.

Yep, the Cal Cup hasn't featured or produced any top class horses.

Flying Continental, Best Pal, Lava Man, Romance Is Diane, Lethal Heat, Budroyale, Megans Interco, Sky Jack, Magical Allure, Belles Flag, Bel's Starlet, Cat's Cradle, River's Prayer, Klassy Kim, Charm A Gendarme, Private Persuasion, Silent Sighs, House of Fortune, Cavonnier, Nationalore, Officer, Sierra Sunset, Sensational Eyes, Southern Truce, Pirates Revenge, Gourmet Girl, Dream Of Summer, Yearly Report, Journalism, Continental Red, Native Desert, Answer Do, Softshoe Sure Shot, Big Jag, Love That Red, Thor's Echo, Da Stoops, Bilo, Johnny Eves, Bordonaro, etc.

But none of them ran in the Cal Cup as their last race before the BC. Probably because in many previous years, the Cal Cup was the week before or the week after the BC. (Remember how Baffert wheeled Officer back one week after his BC Juvenile loss to run second in the Cal Cup Juvenile?)

Best Pal (10th BC Classic '93), Nationalore (3rd Juvenile '97), and Flying Sensation (4th Juvenile '93) definitely did. I'm sure there's more.

Lethal Heat was in the Cal Cup

wasnt Nationalore still a maiden??