Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned continued his
preparations for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap with a
five-furlong breeze in 1:01 2/5 on the muddy main track at Churchill Downs on
Monday morning.
Working under Brian Hernandez Jr., Fort Larned recorded fractions of :13 4/5,
:26 2/5, :38 1/5 and :49 4/5. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 3/5.
After two disappointing starts year, trainer Ian Wilkes is hopeful Fort
Larned can prove to be the “big dog” once again in the Stephen Foster.
“When you get to a Grade 1 race, they don’t just hand them to you,” Wilkes
said. “I wish they would hand it to us, but they’re not going to do it. That’s
the challenge. Fort Larned has to step up to the plate and become the big dog
again. That’s what he’s got to do.”
Janis Whitham’s homebred Fort Larned made his five-year-old debut in the
Gulfstream Park Handicap in March and lost Hernandez after stumbling at
the start. Fort Larned proceeded to race around the track without the guidance
of a rider and finished well in front of the field.
“You can jump up and down and scream and holler all you want, but it’s part
of racing,” Wilkes said. “You go from the highest of highs to the low of
thinking he could have finished his career. He could have hurt himself real bad.
It was a sigh of relief when he came back fine. The important thing was that he
was OK and Brian was OK.”
Fort Larned made his second start of the year in the Oaklawn Handicap and
finished fifth as the 1-2 favorite in the field of 10. Wilkes said he expected a
better performance.
“He didn’t show any signs of being fatigued and I thought he was on top of
his game,” Wilkes said. “I was a little surprised.”
Now heading into his third start of the year, Wilkes is hopeful Fort Larned,
who was last of eight in last year’s Stephen Foster, will be back in top form
Saturday.
“You never know until you get back to the races,” Wilkes said. “That’s the
biggest key. His works have been really good — solid and crisp. And the horse
looks really good. After the stumble and the bad race, I had to regroup. I had
to get it together and this is our start for the second half of the year to get
things going.”
Fort Larned, who is likely to be the co-starting high weight with Successful
Dan at 121 pounds, won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in gate-to-wire fashion, but
Wilkes said he won’t necessarily go to the front in the Stephen Foster.
“You just don’t know until you see how you draw and see exactly who is in the
race,” Wilkes said. “I know we’re thinking it’ll be six horses, but entries
haven’t closes and someone could come in that could change the whole race. The
main thing is that I’m just going to focus on my horse right now. When we see
the post draw and see who is in there, then we’ll get a game plan together.”
Entries will be taken Wednesday morning. The probable field is Fort Larned
(121 pounds), Successful Dan (121), Ron the Greek (120), Take Charge Indy (119),
Golden Ticket (117) and Pool Play (115).
Wilkes, former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, said Fort
Larned, who in addition to the Breeders’ Cup Classic won last year’s Whitney
Handicap, Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap and Skip Away, ranks as one of the
most talented horses he’s worked with in his career.
“You can’t compare him to Unbridled or Street Sense because he’s a different
type of horse,” Wilkes said. “But, in his own way, he ranks right up there with
them.”
The Foster is one of five graded stakes races Saturday and will be run in
prime time under the lights on the first of three “Downs After Dark” programs.
The first of 11 races will be 6 p.m. (EDT) and the Foster is scheduled as Race 8
at 9:39 p.m.
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