Hashtag Bourbon, Asmussen duo hoping to live up to promise
in Iroquois
Trainer Steve Asmussen will saddle a pair of promising
two-year-olds on Saturday in
Churchill Downs‘
Grade 3, $100,000 Iroquois in Bold Conquest and Lucky Player.
“They’re both doing so well; I think it should be a two-horse race,” Asmussen’s assistant trainer Galen Prewitt said Friday morning.
Bold Conquest, a son of Asmussen-trained and recent Hall of
Fame inductee Curlin, took a maiden race at
Saratoga on August 16 going 6
1/2
furlongs, winning by a head. He was runner-up in his only previous start, also
at Saratoga, going 5 1/2 furlongs.
“He definitely seemed to benefit from going a little longer
in his second race at Saratoga,” Prewitt said. “It’s so competitive up there.
He’s got a lot of class, just like his daddy.”
Bold Conquest, 4-1 on the morning line, will be ridden by
Joel Rosario breaking from post position 8 in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile event.
Lucky Player is coming off of a runner-up effort in the
Prairie Meadows Juvenile Mile, where he dug in late and just missed by a neck.
“Lucky Player is doing great,” Prewitt stated. “He’s really progressing well;
he ran a good second last out at Prairie Meadows and came out of it great. I
have no doubt in that horse’s abilities.”
Lucky Player will break from post 5 at odds of 5-1 on
the morning-line with jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. getting the call.
Hashtag Bourbon, victorious in the
Mountaineer Juvenile in his last start, has had the
Iroquois on his radar for quite some time, according to trainer Kellyn Gorder.
“The Iroquois has been the plan from Day One,” Gorder said. “We like the fact
that we don’t have to ship and we thought this would shape up to be a perfect
spot for him.”
After a troubled start in his maiden debut beneath the Twin
Spires on June 28, Hashtag Bourbon started the race in ninth-place before
rallying late to finish third in the nine-horse field.
Hashtag Bourbon began his last race in sixth, but went on
to capture the six-furlong Mountaineer Juvenile by taking a narrow lead in the
stretch and widening to win by 4 1/2 lengths.
“I expect him to maybe be a little closer than in his last
race,” Gorder said. “He’s also breaking better each time he runs. His first race
he basically just stood there in the gate; he didn’t break well at all.
“I think he should handle the distance fine. I think we’ll be off the pace,
but of course it all depends on how the race shapes up.”
The two-year-old son of Super
Saver breezed a half-mile in :50 1/5 at Churchill on Monday in his last
workout prior to Saturday’s Iroquois.
“He’s trained very well,” Gorder said. “No hiccups; we’ve been very happy
with him.”
Hashtag Bourbon will break from the rail in post 1 in the
Iroquois with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.
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