American Lion justifies hype in Hollywood Prevue

American Lion is still on a learning curve (Benoit Photo) WinStar Farm’s homebred AMERICAN LION (Tiznow) generated plenty of buzz when romping in a Keeneland maiden last time out, fueling thoughts of the Triple Crown trail. As a result, the Eoin Harty pupil was hammered into 3-5 favoritism in his stakes debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Hollywood Prevue S. (G3). Despite giving his backers a few anxious moments on the far turn, American Lion eventually came through to score by a half-length, and solidified his status as a hot prospect. Ridden once more by Julien Leparoux, who made the trip from Kentucky to keep the colt’s acquaintance, American Lion tracked the early pace set by Macias (Purge) through splits of :22 2/5 and :45 4/5. On the far turn, however, the favorite came under a ride and appeared to be making hard work of keeping up.

Macias continued to lead the way into the stretch, but he was pressed by his
Bob Baffert-trained stablemate, Indian Firewater (Indian Charlie), and a
suddenly resurgent American Lion. Finding renewed momentum once hitting the
lane, American Lion stayed on strongly to sweep past the Baffert pair. Although
the late-running Get My Fix (Posse) also finished with interest, American Lion
held a safe margin at the wire. The bay colt reeled off seven furlongs in 1:22
2/5 on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track.

“This was a good learning experience for him,” Leparoux said. “He needs to
learn more, and he’s still a big baby. That’s good though, because he’s still
winning. When the other horse came up to him at the wire, he just took off
again. It’s not like’s he’s tired or anything. He’s just a little green, but
he’s a nice horse.”

“This horse is very sensible, but he’s still unfocused,” Harty said. “Coming
down the stretch he was flicking his ears and looking at everything. But there’s
plenty of time to correct that before Derby Day, if we get that far. At the
three-eighths pole I thought he was in trouble. It looked like he was under a
ride and going nowhere. But he got to running in the lane.”

The popular winner returned $3.40, $2.80 and $2.60 while keying the $1
exotics — the $20.70 exacta, the $210.20 trifecta and the $812.40 superfecta
(4-2-1-5). Get My Fix outran his 20-1 odds to pay $10.80 and $7.80. Seattle
Ruler (Roman Ruler) closed for third, another three-quarters of a length back,
and furnished $6.80 at 29-1. Macias salvaged fourth in a photo with Indian
Firewater, who was followed home by Tribal Face (Tribal Rule), Pico Pico (Pico
Central [Brz]) and Purse Luva (Pollard’s Vision).

The Kentucky-bred American Lion boosted his bankroll to $95,600 from his
3-2-0-0 line. Originally in the care of Richard Budge, he finished second in his
debut at Arlington Park and was then transferred to Harty. In his first start
for his new barn, American Lion rolled to a 6 3/4-length maiden score at
Keeneland on October 18.

Bred by WinStar in partnership with Dr. William Lockridge, American Lion is
out of the winning Storm Cat mare Storm Tide, who is a full sister to Canadian
stakes victor Weather Warning. The colt’s second dam is City Band (Carson City),
heroine of the 1996 Oak Leaf S. (G1) and Golden Rod S. (G3) and runner-up in the
Hollywood Starlet S. (G1). American Lion has two full siblings, a yearling colt
and a weanling filly.

With this stakes under his belt, American Lion shapes up as a logical
contender for the December 19 CashCall Futurity (G1) at Hollywood.