Shackleford, Little Mike look ahead to
Breeders’ Cup
While it was not a winning performance, trainer Dale Romans was
pleased with what he saw from stable star Shackleford, who ran second in
Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap by 3 1/2 lengths.
“I wanted to see Shackleford go ahead and win, but I was happy
with his performance because he did show enough to know that he’s back and fresh
again,” Romans said. “The Met Mile was a tough race and took a lot out of him,
to beat Caleb’s Posse. But I think he’s back, and it will really help him move
forward for the Breeders’ Cup.”
It’s been an up-and-down year for the 2011 Preakness winner,
starting with seventh and third-place finishes in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at
Gulfstream Park and the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, respectively.
Shackleford shined during the month of May, winning the Grade 2
Churchill Downs Stakes and, in arguably the best performance of his career,
taking a loaded edition of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park by
a nose over Caleb’s Posse, with multiple Grade 1 winner To Honor and Serve
checking in third.
Given two months off following that grueling effort, the
four-year-old son of Forestry returned in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in
early August at Saratoga. Drawing the rail for his first attempt at six furlongs
and his first try over a muddy track, Shackleford never factored and finished
eighth.
The Kelso marked his first race in nearly two months, and sets
him up for his final start, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on November 3 at Santa
Anita.
Another Romans horse likely headed to the Breeders’ Cup is
Little Mike, who prompted the pace before fading badly to finish fifth by 28 1/2
lengths in Saturday’s 1 1/2-mile Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational.
“Little Mike just did not handle that (yielding) ground at all,”
Romans said. “But he came out of it good, and looks good, so we’ll regroup and
head west.”
While five of his 11 victories have been at the mile distance,
Little Mike’s two Grade 1 wins came in the 1 1/8-mile Woodford Reserve Turf
Classic and the 1 1/4-mile Arlington Million. Romans expressed some concern in
dropping him back in distance for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but seemed to be
leaning in that direction.
“We’re going to take Little Mike home and figure out what might
be next,” Romans said. “We might try to back up and go to the (Breeders’ Cup)
Mile if we can get him to put in a couple of sharp works and show me that he’s
going to be quick enough to handle it.”
Romans’ other entrant in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, the
three-year-old Finnegans Wake, was outrun early and finished fourth by 14 1/2
lengths.
“Finnegans Wake didn’t handle the course very well, but he was a
little up against it going against older horses for the first time going a mile
and a half,” Romans said. “His best races are ahead of him. He’s going to get
better with age.”
Another of Romans’ three-year-old contingent, Dullahan, worked
five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 over Belmont Park’s fast main track Sunday in
preparation for a start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Jamaica.
“Dullahan worked super this morning; really good,” Romans said.
“All systems are go for the Jamaica — he is ready to roll.”
Owned by Donegal Racing, Dullahan will be looking for
back-to-back Grade 1 scores, most recently defeating top older horse Game On
Dude in Del Mar’s $1 million Pacific Classic.
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