Little Mike back in action in the United Nations

With victories last season in the Breeders' Cup Turf, Arlington Million and

Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, Little Mike plundered three of the country's most

significant turf stakes. On Saturday, the six-year-old will set his eyes on the

proverbial granddaddy of them all, the Grade 1, $500,000

United

Nations.

Presently contested over 1 3/8 miles at Monmouth Park, the United Nations was

first run in 1953 at Atlantic City, which hosted the event for more than four

decades. It is among the oldest continuously run stakes in the country which

originated as a grass event.

Little Mike's three big wins in 2012 resulted in his becoming a finalist for

champion turf male honors, but the Dale Romans trainee missed a large share of

the first half of the season rebounding from a winter trip to Dubai. His main

goal, the $5 million Dubai Duty Free on March 30, resulted in an 11th place

finish for the Spanish Steps gelding. His fared little better in his local prep

for that, finishing eighth in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 on Meydan's

Tapeta surface.

Also expected to show early foot is the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Skyring, who

parlayed a front-running trip over a speed-friendly turf into a 24-1 upset win

in the May 18 Dixie at Pimlico. A son of two-time United Nations winner English

Channel, Skyring has yet to run beyond 1 3/16 miles, and will be piloted in this

endeavor by Hall of Famer Gary Stevens.

Willcox Inn, surely hampered to some extend by the Pimico turf bias,

nonetheless got within a half-length of Skyring at the finish of the Dixie after

a strong stretch run. The Grade 2 veteran lost by the same margin in the Mervin

H. Muniz Jr. Memorial at Fair Grounds two back, and seeks to end a stakes

drought that dates to the Hawthorne Derby in October 2011.

Another hard to discount is winner Big Blue Kitten, who captured a pair of

allowances earlier this year and placed in both the Fort Lauderdale and the

Monmouth, both Grade 2 events.