NEWS
Fabulous Strike, Munnings meet in Tom Fool
Posted: Thursday, July 02, 2009 6:23 PM
FABULOUS STRIKE
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Frank Angst
A pair of impressive stakes winners on the Belmont Stakes (G1) undercard will meet on Sunday when Fabulous Strike and Munnings duel in the Tom Fool Handicap (G2).
Six-year-old gelding Fabulous Strike held off champion sprinter Benny the Bull to win the True North Handicap (G2) by 1¼ lengths on June 6 at Belmont Park (video) while Munnings trounced seven other three-year-olds to win the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) by 5 1/4 lengths (video).
Fabulous Strike, winner of the 2007 Vosburgh Stakes (G1) and ten other stakes races, will carry high weight of 123 pounds in the seven-furlong race, with none of the other four horses entered assigned more than 115 pounds. The Smart Strike gelding has won four of his six starts at Belmont, all in stakes, although one of those losses came at the seven-furlong Tom Fool distance.
Trainer Todd Beattie noted that he likes the timing of the race, despite the weight and distance challenges.
Munnings will return to the seven-furlong distance of his winning Woody Stephens performance, but the Speightstown colt will be facing older horses for the first time in his career.
“It’s ambitious to try older horses at this time of year, but it’s our best option to keep him at a distance he likes and at a track he likes,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who won the 2000 Tom Fool with three-year-old Trippi.
Rounding out the field are Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap (G1) third-place finisher Driven by Success, four-time graded stakes-placed winner Riley Tucker, and The Last Wave.
Frank Angst is senior writer for THOROUGHBRED TIMES
