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Calder Racecourse's annual tribute to the "Less is More" theory of American racing, the Summit of Speed, graces us again on Saturday and nine added-money races are on offer with four six-furlong graded stakes leading the parade. They have drawn 85 brilliantly fast — or two-turn challenged, depending on your viewpoint — horses to the Miami racetrack, including the expected strong contingent from California, headed by Lost in the Fog and Victorina.
The West is likewise well-represented in the $300,000 Carry Back Stakes (Grade 2) for 3-year-olds. Bob Baffert's Too Much Bling is the obvious choice while up-and-coming conditioner Brian Koriner brings in undefeated Northern Soldier. He will be Koriner's first Summit starter, though he thought he had one two years ago with Stormin' Lyon. That colt got seriously ill on his flight to Florida and needed a year to make it back to the racetrack, but did win a turf stakes as a 4-year-old.
He's one of a number of stakes-winning trained by Koriner, most recently Railroad in last Sunday's Kerlan Handicap at Hollywood Park. "I'm attracted to fast horses," he explained. "I look for that body type and hope I have a good enough eye to find runners. Another reason is that sprinter prospects generally cost less. It's hard to find a nice horse bred to go long in my range because everybody wants a Derby horse. The good-looking sprinter that costs $135,000 is a better value than a route horse for that price."
Northern Soldier, a son of the accomplished miler Yankee Victor, was a bargain by anyone's standards. He cost only $30,000 as an Ocala 2-year-old in April of 2005 after bringing $10,000 more the previous fall at Keeneland. "He didn't have a lot of size," Koriner recalled, "and looked like just a sprinter. He was not a big, pretty horse."
The colt was ticketed for a quick introduction to competition but a year passed before he ran his first race. "We trained him a little right out of the sale but he had the little problems that 2-year-olds have," Koriner remembered. "So we sent him to the farm for a few months and then took our time getting him into shape. That's what made his first race so impressive, because he wasn't as tight as he could be."
In that Golden Gate maiden race, Northern Soldier lost his lead inside the eighth-pole before fighting back to win the head-bob in very fast time. "That's when he showed he's a racehorse," Koriner said. "He was hooked and fought back. But I still had no idea he'd become this good."
Good enough to win Hollywood's Grade 2 Laz Berrera Memorial just two starts later with Arson Squad, handy winner of the Swaps Stakes this past Saturday, in the beaten field. The win kept Northern Soldier's record unblemished, as was Lost in the Fog's when he arrived in Miami for last year's Carry Back. "Last year's race wasn't as strong as this year's, at least statistically," he said. "We have three horses with triple-digit Beyers while 'Fog was the only one last year."
Northern Soldier isn't in that group — yet — but he's run as fast as necessary so far and appears more than capable of challenging the favorite. Either way, the Golden State should claim this race.
No one was too excited about derailing the Lost in the Fog express in last year's Carry Back but that's not the case twelve months later. Harry Aleo's Eclipse Award winner has shown some signs of vulnerability and, with $500,000 on the table, a full field has answered the call for the Smile Handicap (Grade 2), hoping that a hot pace and 125 pounds — eight more than any other starter — can take down the champ.
Shipping to Florida is a long haul from northern California but Lost in the Fog's schedule is far less strenuous than last year's. "After the Breeder's Cup, I told Mr. Aleo we should come in with a fresher horse [next] year — a lot less travel and a few less races," said trainer Greg Gilchrist this week. "So, if he can make it back, we'd rather it be his fifth or sixth race. We came back here is because he handled the surface so well last year."
The trainer also noted that, "When you're running against older horses, they come from all over at you," and that's true Saturday. Former Carry Back winner Weigelia is in from Maryland, Kelly's Landing from Kentucky and Joey P. from New Jersey. Todd Pletcher has razor-sharp Friendly Island on the grounds as well.
Local trainer Marty Wolfson has entered a trio in the Smile including Pomeroy, arguably the second-best 3-year-old sprinter last year. He resurfaces in the Smile after his sometimes spectacular 2005 season was ended by injury. "He had minor surgery for a chip in his ankle not long after he ran in the Vosburgh," Wolfson said. If he can duplicate his Saratoga form first time out of the box, he can challenge 'Fog for it all.
What is it about the $500,000 Princess Rooney Handicap (Grade 1) that produces an overwhelming favorite every year? The people's choice has been odds-on in four of the last five editions and that looks like a certainty once again. Dubai Escapade will have that burden as she tries to extend her unbeaten record in America to five after beginning her career in England. Her win in last month's Vagrancy Handicap was a dominating display of speed and fortitude.
Of course, with a sterling pedigree and a $2 million price tag, a lot was expected of the half-sister to last year's runaway Rooney winner, Madcap Escapade, but she seems equal to the task. Only half of those recent chalk horses won, however, so low odds are no guarantee in this race. Dubai Escapade can expect resistance from California-bred and -based Leave Me Alone, who took the Azalea at last year's Summit, and Ebony Breeze, a graded winner at Arlington in her last start.
Sharpest of the contenders is Hot Storm, who scored at Prairie Meadows a fortnight ago and is most proven at the distance. "It's a little unusual to come back in two weeks, but she's just trained so good," said trainer Dallas Stewart. "She acts like she's on top of her game and I told the owner it would be terrible to deny her the chance."
hmmm, it looks like Lost in the Fog and Victorina are becoming an item. Sources say the 3-year-old filly accompanied her stablemate to Kentucky in June — where she finished third in the one-mile Dogwood Stakes. Now she's been spotted leaving a cargo plane in Miami just a few minutes after 'Fog came down the ramp. That she's favored in the $300,000 Azalea Stakes (Grade 3) for 3-year-old fillies is mere coincidence.
Victorina was bought by Gilchrist for Aleo at the same Ocala session where Koriner took Northern Soldier. Whether she's a true sprinter remains to be seen but she holds a numbers edge on her seven opponents. She'll have to run down local hotshot Frolicing to give Gilchrist his first win of the day but the paparazzi should be out in force after this race.
Money is no object
The $1,000,000 Virginia Derby (Grade 2) tops Saturday's dollar-meter and, while a dozen well-matched 3-year-olds will line up for the 1 1/4-mile turf race, the nominal favorite, Showing Up, will not be among them. The Lael Stables colt won the Colonial Cup, the first leg of Colonial Downs' Grand Slam of Grass, in convincing fashion but trainer Barclay Tagg stated beforehand that he felt returning for the Derby just three weeks after a taxing assignment in the slightly shorter Cup was not in his horse's best interests.
He wasn't kidding. Despite having the prime contender for a $1 million race and a leg up on a huge bonus, Tagg is keeping Showing Up in his stall, much to the relief of the Cup's next three finishers, all of whom are willing to run on 21 days rest when the prize is seven figures. Kip Deville, who almost stole the Cup after opening a 15-length lead, has Rafael Bejarano aboard for this one and again could prove troublesome on a loose lead, while Go Between and Roman Dynasty hope the extra 110 yards of the Derby will be his undoing. But they will be confronted by a host of newcomers from all over the map.
Seaside Retreat, who ran 10th in the Kentucky Derby, comes from Canada with a nice turf win in hand and another Classics campaigner, Steppenwolfer, tries the sod for only the second time in his career. Roman Dynasty's stablemate Manchu Prince — who had a nice prep race over the course — is trainer Todd Pletcher's other chance for his second straight Derby.
California will be represented by Genre, an English-bred who found himself on the Classics trail after being awarded the Real Quiet Stakes on a questionable disqualification. That ended after he was unplaced in the Sham Stakes. "We bought him to run in the Generous Stakes but Hollywood cancelled turf racing so we ran him on the main track," trainer Ben Cecil said Tuesday of the colt that cost owners David and Paula Mueller a quarter-million dollars at last fall's Tattersalls sale. "He tried hard at Santa Anita but ran down so badly that now I won't even train him on dirt." The painful condition, akin to an abrasion, afflicts sensitive horses in the area just above the hoof.
Back on grass, Genre placed in two minor stakes before taking the nine-furlong Cinema Handicap, a race marred when New Joysey Jeff ducked out after taking the lead in mid-stretch and tossed his rider. Genre, who was coming fastest of all, shifted inside of the riderless horse and won by a half-length. "I'm biased but I think my horse would have won even without that incident," Cecil said. "I thought he had him measured. Considering it was his first start in three months and he settled well back in the pack, I thought it was a splendid race. And I believe the extra ground of the Derby is in his favor."
The conditioner is especially wary of two Derby entrants, swift Kip Deville and Proudinsky, the latest European purchase of Gary Tanaka, whose Eclipse winner Golden Apples was trained by Cecil. "We all hope someone goes with Kip Deville, for obvious reasons," he said. "Mr. Tanaka is a good friend but maybe his horse, who ran so well off the plane in Chicago, will regress a little as horses sometimes do after a few weeks in this country. At least, that's the hope."
Proudinsky flew through the stretch only to miss by a nose in the Arlington Classic in his American debut just two weeks ago and will appreciate this course and distance. Genre should be coming hard at the race's end but the German-bred will also be a factor in the sprint to the wire.
Continental drift
The eastward flow this weekend is not confined to Florida and Virginia. Bay Area-based 3-year-old filly Hystericalady, fresh from a cakewalk in the Hollywood Oaks, journeys to Wilmington for the $500,000 Delaware Oaks (Grade 2) and the Jerry Hollendorfer trainee will try to dispatch her seven rivals with a big helping of California speed. Hystericalady led throughout at Hollywood and, before that, outfinished Victorina at six furlongs.
"I would never predict my horse would be in front without looking at the other entries," Hollendorfer said early in the week. "I'm sure there are other fast fillies in the field but it's nice to have speed wherever you run. Her winning by seven lengths at Hollywood did surprise me but I wasn't surprised she won. She's just a real nice filly who we've always liked a whole lot and she's earned the chance to run in a race of this caliber."
This will be the first time outside of the Golden State for the daughter of Distorted Humor — her dam was a champion in Chile — since she was purchased at the 2004 Keeneland September sale for $125,000. "There's not much that bothers her although there are always unknowns when you travel cross-country the first time," Hollendorfer said, "especially since she'll be facing good fillies back there. But she's been working great and doing it easily. Her Sunday work [six furlongs in 1:12 1/5 seconds] was fabulous."
Hystericalady's main opposition comes from two big-name trainers hoping for forward moves by their fillies. Todd Pletcher sends out Adieu, a Grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old who has not approached her juvenile form so far this year while Rick Dutrow hopes Last Romance builds on her third-place Acorn finish at 15-to-1.
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