Bodog Beat

Commentator was the class of the field in last weekend's $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs.

The consistent 7-year-old gelding dispatched his rivals with ease, executing his race plan perfectly. Under jockey John Velazquez, Commentator bided his time, running to the outside of pacesetter and longshot Riversrunrylee. At the three-furlong pole, he displayed his quick turn of foot and powered to a commanding 14-length victory.

"I really didn't want to be in a speed duel, so I was very content with the way we were going up the back side," Velazquez said after the race. "I eased him away from the other horses and he moved very confidently."

Won Awesome Dude and Cuba, the second- and third-place finishers, never mounted a serious challenge; Riversrunrylee finished last.

The Massachusetts Handicap is the second Breeders' Cup Challenge race that Commentator has won this year; he was also victorious in the $750,000 Whitney Handicap in July by a margin of 4-3/4 lengths. But whether Commentator will start in the Breeders' Cup Classic in October at Santa Anita Park is still up in the air.

Trainer Nick Zito won't say one way or another – not yet, anyway. While the short time between the MassCap and the Breeders' Cup Classic may play a role in Zito's decision, his dislike of the synthetic surface at Santa Anita Park may be the clincher.

"You have to think about the Breeders' Cup," said Zito, who will make a decision about Commentator's future in two weeks' time. "It's a long way to go for a synthetic surface. As you know, I'm not crazy about anything artificial. There's nothing

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