NEWS
Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship may be springboard to Breeders' Cup
Posted: Friday, September 30, 2005
Not since 1995 when Northern Spur (Ire) completed the double has a horse swept both the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship Stakes (G1) and the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1).
Johar used a runner-up effort in California's traditional Breeders' Cup Turf prep race as a springboard to a victory in the World Thoroughbred Championships in 2003, when he finished in a dead heat with High Chapparal in one of the most thrilling finishes in the event's history.
Eight runners are entered for Sunday's $250,000 Hirsch Memorial Turf at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park and a strong effort could stamp their ticket to the Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont Park on October 29.
Three-time Grade 1 winner Sweet Return (GB) headlines the solid cast for the 1 1/4-mile turf race for three-year-olds and older. The five-year-old son of Elmaamul won the Eddie Read Handicap (G1) at Del Mar on July 24 and the Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap (G1) at Hollywood Park on June 11, but enters off a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Arlington Million Stakes (G1) on August 18.
Multiple Grade 2 winner Whilly (Ire) opened the season with a score in the San Marcos Stakes (G2) on January 22 at Santa Anita and followed with a runner-up effort in the Dubai Duty Free (UAE-G1) at Nad al Sheba racecourse on March 26. The four-year-old Sri Pekan colt added a win in the American Invitational Handicap (G2) on July 3, but enters the race off consecutive disappointing off-the-board finishes in the Arlington Million and the Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2).
Trainer Mike Mitchell won the Hirsch Memorial Turf last year with former claimer Star Over the Bay, the ill-fated stable star who suffered an accident while racing in Singapore and had to be euthanized. This year Mitchell will send out Del Mar Handicap (G2) winner Leprechaun Kid, a gray or roan gelding that is remarkably similar to Star Over the Bay.
"I guess that's why we get a little choked up when we talk about him," Mitchell said of Leprechaun Kid, who he claimed for $80,000 on July 28. "Leprechaun Kid has the same style and he looks a lot like Star. If we had taken the blinkers off him and changed the colors on him, he'd have looked exactly like Star."
Del Mar Handicap runner-up Laura's Lucky Boy and third-place finisher Exterior will also contest the Clement Hirsch as will multiple Grade 1-placed winner Fourty Niners Son, who enters off a third-place effort in the Arlington Million.
The field, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, and trainer:
1. Leprechaun Kid (Alphabet Soup), Tyler Baze, 124, Mike Mitchell;
2. Whilly [IRE] (Sri Pekan), Felipe Martinez, 124, Doug O'Neill;
3. Fourty Niners Son (Distorted Humor), Corey Nakatani, 124, Neil Drysdale;
4. Runaway Dancer (Runaway Groom), Garrett Gomez, 124, Dan Hendricks;
5. Continental Red (Flying Continental), Victor Espinoza, 124, Antonio Gonzalez;
6. Sweet Return [GB] (Elmaamul), Alex Solis, 124, Ron McAnally;
7. Laura's Lucky Boy (Theatrical [IRE]), Gary Stevens, 124, Richard Mandella; and
8. Exterior (Distant View), Patrick Valenzuela, 124, Bobby Frankel.
