NEWS
Haskell could establish leader in three-year-old division
Posted: Thursday, July 15, 2010 8:10 PM
LOOKIN AT LUCKY
PhotosByZ.com/Thoroughbred Times
by Jeff Lowe
The Triple Crown concluded without a definitive division leader, but the $1-million IZOD Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) is shaping up as a case maker, with all three classic favorites and two of the three winners under strong consideration for Monmouth Park’s signature race on August 1.
Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Lookin At Lucky drilled seven furlongs in 1:26 handily on Thursday at Santa Anita Park in his latest tune-up. He and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Super Saver are both scheduled to return in the Haskell after skipping the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 5. Super Saver finished eighth in the Preakness.
Ice Box, the beaten Belmont favorite, also is probable for the Haskell, along with Preakness runner-up and Belmont third-place finisher First Dude, Long Branch Stakes winner Trappe Shot, and Withers Stakes (G3) winner Afleet Again.
The day before the Haskell, emerging colt Afleet Express and Belmont runner-up Fly Down are scheduled to headline the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course.
“That will be a very interesting weekend,” said Bill Casner, co-owner of WinStar Farm, the owner of Super Saver and injured Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Drosselmeyer. “You always see some horses come along in the summer who are a little later to develop than the Triple Crown horses. We gave Super Saver some time after the Preakness and he has responded well. We’re confident.”
WinStar and Super Saver’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, scored back-to-back Haskell wins with Bluegrass Cat in 2006 and Any Given Saturday in ’07.
Racing Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said Ice Box, the Derby runner-up, displaced his palate in the Belmont, after he got worked up before the race and finished eighth.
Ice Box and Fly Down have both recorded three published workouts on the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga since the Belmont.
“When you scope one, a lot of time when they have trouble you find blood or mucus or something basically wrong with the throat, and we didn’t find anything other than the actual displacement, and that’s basically anxiety,” Zito said. “It was a clear case of displacing. Albert the Great did it and got beat [28½ lengths] in the [2000] Jim Dandy and came back and finished second by a whisker in the Travers and won the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), so you’ve just got to hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Drosselmeyer is at WinStar in Versailles, Kentucky, awaiting a bone scan for ankle trouble. He probably will not race again this year.
Casner said multiple graded stakes winner Rule and Sunland Derby (G3) winner Endorsement are both progressing at the farm. Rule was given a break the week before the Kentucky Derby after a disappointing workout at Churchill Downs. Endorsement is recovering from surgery to repair a condylar fracture that knocked him out of the Derby the day entries were taken.
Jeff Lowe is staff writer for Thoroughbred Times
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: cheech, Los Angelas, CA on July 20, 2010 at 08:45 PM
cant wait to see the real champ "lucky" strut his stuff and show'em out east that the west is best
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Posted by: Bill, Evansville, IN on July 18, 2010 at 07:41 PM
The Haskel will be an important race toward which colt is the Colt of the Year. I think that will be Luckin At Lucky because he always [when not "butchered by others in the race"] wants to win and usually does. Changing jocks appears to be the answer. Last year, it was Summer Bird, who when getting a quality jockey [Desourmeux] he never lost to another 3yr old colt and won 3yr. old of the yr. I predict the same for LaL.
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Posted by: Mimi, San Antonio, TX on July 18, 2010 at 07:04 PM
Wow! It seems there'll be A LOT of good horses in the Haskell field-if the trainers don't back them out. I know Lookin At Lucky and Drosselmeyer are good horses and they ran their best, but if First Dude was held back in the Preakness and the Belmont and then let go in the last quarter or so, (more or less) he would've won the last 2 legs of the TC. I mean, come on, FD's people, if you've got a front-running competitive horse like First Dude, don't let him waste his breath at the beggining and tire at the end. Hold him back and then let him RUN!!!
LAL won the Preakness while he was still 2...THAT'S AWESOME!! And, Drosselmeyer's a very beautiful horse.
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