Alsvid, Frac Daddy and Departing exit Churchill stakes in
good order
Trainer Chris Hartman says that it’s still sinking in quite a bit one day after scoring his
first graded stakes win
at Churchill Downs in Saturday’s Aristides S. (G3) with Alsvid (Officer).
“It was a lot of fun,” Hartman
said. “It was my first attempt at a graded stakes at Churchill Downs as well, so
it was great to win it. He came out of the race great. I haven’t really thought
past this race.”
Hartman went on to say that Alsvid
will get a brief resting period before returning to the work tab in the next
couple of weeks. The Aristides was the six-year-old gelding’s third straight victory, which pushed his
earnings to $994,225.
Alsvid defeated reigning champion sprinter Work All Week (City Zip)
in the Aristides, but the latter’s stablemate The Pizza Man (English Channel)
got the win for trainer Roger Brueggemann in the Opening Verse overnight stakes
one race later.
Running second in that 1 1/16-mile turf contest was Frac Daddy (Scat
Daddy), who exited the race in good order, according to trainer Kenny McPeek.
“He had been working extremely
well going in so we were expecting a good race out of him,” McPeek said via
telephone from New York. “He’s a free-running horse with natural speed so we
didn’t want to take that away from him. I didn’t really give (jockey) Corey (Lanerie) any
specific instructions.
“I’m not sure where we’ll go next. We’re going to let the
dust settle a little bit.”
Departing (War Front) also came out of the Opening Verse well according to
trainer Al Stall Jr., who was pleased with the five-year-old gelding’s
third-place run while making his turf debut.
“He ran very well for this being
his first time on turf and the first time running since November against these
types of horses,” Stall said.
Prior to the Opening Verse, Departing was a well-beaten seventh in the Clark H.
(G1) last November. Stall later said that he does not yet know where the
horse will run next.
Also on Saturday’s card at Churchill, last year’s Kentucky Derby (G1)
runner-up Commanding Curve (Master Command) made his
return to competition with a victory in the 2ND race after
holding off a late charge from Raagheb (Street Cry). The bay four-year-old’s three-quarter-length
score was his first start since he was a well-beaten
ninth in the Travers S. (G1) at Saratoga last August and just his second from 11
total career starts.
Trainer Dallas Stewart was pleased with the
Commanding Curve’s performance.
“Everything is fine, he ran a good race,” Stewart said via
telephone from New York. “We’re just going to take our time with him. I’m happy
with how he ran. We’ll just take it easy and pick our spots wisely.”
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