GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - As they say down the highway at the Johnson Space Center, “Enough talkin’, let’s light this candle!” The “candle” in this case is a rocket-fast colt by the name of Ghostzapper, who figures to orbit the Lone Star Park racetrack in record time to defeat a dozen rivals in Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

That’s not to say that Ghostzapper, a 4-year-old colt trained by Bobby Frankel, will have an easy time winning North America’s richest race. He faces one of the deepest fields ever in the headline event of the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, an eight-race equine extravaganza that will be broadcast live by NBC Sports from 1-6 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Among the rivals Ghostzapper will have to hold off in the stretch of the 1¼-mile Classic are defending champion Pleasantly Perfect; Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner; Birdstone, conqueror of Smarty Jones in this year’s Belmont Stakes; the undefeated-in-2004 Roses in May; and the great racemare Azeri, who will try and conquer the best older males in what will likely be the last race of her stellar career.

Toss in such intriguing possibilities as Dynever, the only entrant with a victory over the track; Super Derby winner Fantasticat; the hard-knocking gelding Perfect Drift; and Japanese mystery horse Personal Rush, who won his last start by 9 lengths, and you have what appears to be an indecipherable handicapping puzzle.

But Ghostzapper, who is owned and bred by Canadian industrialist and racetrack magnate Frank Stronach, is the horse that lends order to the chaos.

Prior to Sept. 27 of last year, Ghostzapper had only proven himself to be a solid sprinter, marching through allowance races and then running well – a fast-closing third – in his first try against Grade 1 competition in the 7-furlong King Bishop at Saratoga.

But like a rumbling spaceship on the gantry, powerful forces were gathering within.

In his next race, the son of 1998 Classic Winner Awesome Again left the competition in his contrails in the 6 ½ furlong Vosburgh Stakes, winning the Grade 1 sprint at Belmont Park by 6 ½ lengths and tying the track record of 1:14 3/5 for the distance.

Frankel then gave him nine months off before bringing him back in the Grade 2 Tom Fool Handicap at Belmont. The result was nearly as impressive, as Ghostzapper blazed the 7 furlongs in 1:20 2/5, just two ticks off the track record, to win by 4 ¼ lengths.

His best was still to come, however.

After a seven-week break, Ghostzapper made his first start in a two-turn race and demoralized three outmatched competitors in the Grade 3 Iselin Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Monmouth Park. Despite the fact that his unheralded 27-year-old jockey, Javier Castellano, never went to the whip, the colt shaved 3/5ths of a second off the track record for 1 1/8 as he skipped over a sloppy racetrack at the New Jersey oval.

In his most recent start, Ghostzapper had to work hard for victory, battling the length of the stretch with Saint Liam before prevailing by a neck in the Grade1 Woodward Stakes at Belmont.

Despite his scintillating streak, Ghostzapper is likely to be underbet in the Classic and figures to offer solid value if he stays anywhere near his 3-1 morning line. There are a couple reasons for this.

One is the presence of the other accomplished and popular horses in the race:

• Pleasantly Perfect, the 5-2 morning line favorite, earlier this year won the world’s richest race, the $6 million Dubai World Cup, and, after a vacation and a prep race, came back to capture the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar in August.
• Azeri (15-1 in the morning line) undoubtedly will attract more than her share of wagers from casual fans thanks to her sterling record of 17 wins from 23 starts and her battle-of-the-sexes storyline.
• Funny Cide (6-1), who played rope-a-dope with his foes in winning the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup early this month at Belmont, developed a big following during his Triple Crown exploits last year and will be a sentimental favorite among many in the crowd.
• Birdstone (6-1) was widely derided as an undeserving winner when he played the villain to Smarty Jones’ hero in the Belmont Stakes, but his subsequent victory in the Travers Stakes this summer restored plenty of luster to his reputation. Nor does it hurt that he’s handled by Nick Zito, one of the most popular trainers in the game.
• Roses in May (5-1) hasn’t generated huge headlines while developing into one of the top stakes horses in the nation, but his gaudy 5-for-5 record this year will certainly earn him supporters in his toughest test to date.

Many handicappers also took Ghostzapper’s slim margin of victory in the Woodward as an indication that he was tapering off, since Saint Liam was lightly regarded at nearly 12-1 in the wagering. That conclusion seems premature, however, since he probably “bounced,” or regressed, a bit from his outrageously fast previous race and even so, tied another track record in the race

Another factor working to keep Ghostzapper’s price higher than it should rightly be is the perception that, with Ghostzapper, Azeri and Roses in May in the lineup, the early pace of this year’s Classic should be extremely fast, setting the table for closers like Pleasantly Perfect and Birdstone.

While the pace will be quick, a close examination of Ghostzapper’s recent races suggests he has the booster rockets to dominate it, by either sprinting to the lead early from his rail post, or relaxing early and then jetting away from his rivals rounding the far turn.

Either way, the closers will have to do some serious running late if they’re going to catch him.

A final handicapping angle that will dissuade many handicappers from backing Ghostzapper is the fact that he has never run the 1¼ miles he will have to cover on Saturday. No horse has won the Classic without having some experience at the distance.

While this is an area of concern, two factors mitigate this minus. Ghostzapper has the breeding to be able to handle the distance – his sire is 1998 Classic Winner Awesome Again – and he has finished strongly in his 1 1/8 mile races, laying down final fractions that compare with those recorded by the closers in the race.

As for my prediction that, in winning the Classic, Ghostzapper will break the track record for 1 ¼ miles at Lone Star Park, that was the easy part.

The 7-year-old racetrack has never before hosted horses of the caliber it’s seeing this week, and the current record of 2:04 3/5, is held by the 7-year-old gelding Tali Hai, who set the mark while winning a starter allowance race in 1997.

That is slower than any of the previous 20 runnings of the Classic.

How will I capitalize my conviction that Ghostzapper will win?

I’ll bet $20 to win on Ghostzapper to win at odds of 5-2 or higher, and box him in $5 exactas with Pleasantly Perfect and Roses in May for a total of $40.

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