Clark has championship implications for Flat Out, Ruler on
Ice
by James Scully
Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000
Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs offers Flat Out
and Ruler on Ice the opportunity to enhance their Eclipse Award credentials in the older horse and three-year-old male categories, respectively.
Theoretically, both runners will be dropping in class from their last start
in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but Friday’s race is no easy task given the deep
field of 13 assembled.
Other prime contenders in the 1 1/8-mile Clark include Wise Dan, Prayer for
Relief, Will’s Wildcat, Mister Marti Gras and Mission Impazible.
Flat Out can make a compelling argument for championship honors with his
third graded stakes victory of the year. He recorded a convincing 2 1/4-length
win in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup two starts back and was flattered when
the runner-up, Drosselmeyer, came back to post a 1 1/2-length score in the
Breeders’ Cup Classic. Flat Out was in position to offer a serious challenge
himself turning for home before coming up empty in the final furlongs of the
Classic, checking in fifth, and trainer Scooter Dickey is hoping for less moisture
in the track surface Friday.
The five-year-old horse shows a sharp half-mile work in preparation for the
Clark and has run well with little time between starts, winning the Grade 2
Suburban Handicap off a two-week rest this summer. Flat Out has also finished
second in the Woodward Stakes and Whitney Handicap, both Grade 1s, as well as
the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap this season. Alex Solis will retain the
mount.
In a year without a standout three-year-old, Belmont Stakes hero Ruler on Ice
can stake his claim for top honors on Friday. He’ll be the only sophomore male
with multiple Grade 1 wins at a route if successful, and the Kelly Breen-trained
gelding ran well under the Twin Spires when rallying for third in the Breeders’
Cup Classic. The chestnut has also placed in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational
and Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby this season. Garrett Gomez guides the deep
closer.
Wise Dan will enter the Clark in career-best form, posting an easy
four-length decision in the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland most recently,
and the four-year-old gelding also captured the Grade 2 Firecracker and Presque
Isle Mile Stakes during his last four starts, the only setback being a
respectable fourth in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile. The Charles Lopresti pupil
is as versatile as they come when it comes to surfaces, excelling mostly on turf
and synthetics this season, and is a two-time winner on the main track at
Churchill Downs. John Velazquez picks up the assignment.
Prayer for Relief was entered in the Classic but scratched due to a fever.
The classy Bob Baffert-conditioned colt reeled off four consecutive wins,
including the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby and Grade 2 Super Derby, before
finishing a close but troubled third in the Oklahoma Derby last out. The winner
of the latter event, Redeemed, came back to roll in last Saturday’s Grade 3
Discovery Handicap. Prayer for Relief is two-for-three at Friday’s distance and
will likely show speed from post 12 with regular jockey Rafael Bejarano.
Will’s Wildcat improved to three for three at Churchill Downs with a sharp 1
3/4-length tally in the Jimmy V. Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup Friday undercard,
netting an impressive 111 BRIS Speed rating for the front-running decision.
Trained by Jimmy Baker, the three-year-old gelding will make his first start at
the Grade 1 level here. Calvin Borel will be up.
Mister Marti Gras captured the captured the Grade 3 Ack Ack Handicap at
Churchill last out and the in-form late runner will attempt to give Chris Block
consecutive wins in the Clark. Block won last year’s race via disqualification
with Giant Oak, who was knocked out consideration for a title defense due to a
freak training accident last Thursday.
Mission Impazible likes the track at Churchill Downs, recording an excellent
neck second in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap this summer, and will look to
rebound off a disappointing ninth over Polytrack in the Fayette. Javier
Castellano guides the front runner for Todd Pletcher.
Rounding out the field are Ack Ack runner-up Almo d’Oro; multiple Grade 3
winner Demarcation; Grade 1 upsetter Stately Victor; multiple stakes victor
Pleasant Prince, who exits a fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon; Headache, who
has compiled victories in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup and Grade 3 Cornhusker
Handicap this year; and multiple Grade 1 winner General Quarters, who will
looking to snap an eight-race losing skid.