Fall Highweight (G3)

The Fall Highweight H. (G3), which celebrates the era when all
good horses carried a lot more weight than they do today, was
cancelled Thursday and the 91st running will now be held on
Sunday with a field of nine sprinters carrying unusually lofty
weight assignments. We’ll go with the improving THUNDER TOUCH (Gulch),
who gets in under an impost of 126 pounds.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Thunder Touch has made steady
progress since returning from a freshening early in the summer,
recording a pair of wins, two seconds and a third from five
attempts in allowance company. He comes off a nice win at 6 1/2
furlongs in which he closed through the stretch for the half-length
score, and earned his third straight 102 BRIS Late Pace figure.
The improving three-year-old has earned BRIS Speed ratings of 104
in two of his last three outings and gets the dangerous Rafael
Bejarano in the saddle. Thunder Touch can parlay a stalk-and-pounce
trip into a win.

New York-bred FRIENDLY ISLAND (Crafty Friend) owns the Speed
ratings to be a serious factor but will be testing open stakes
company for the first time. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the
chestnut three-year-old has won his last four and has regular
pilot John Velazquez up. He should be a pace presence from the
start and could last a long way on the front end.

PAPUA (Louis Quatorze) should benefit from a pace battle up
front and jockey Javier Castellano will be able to get a good
position from the far outside post. The Michael Hushion trainee
owns some back class, recording a fast-finishing second in this
event last year, and comes off a solid late-running effort in his
last start. We’ll use him in the exotics and respect him as a win
candidate.

PRIMARY SUSPECT (Hennessy) merits consideration for it all in
his first graded attempt. Never off the board in five starts (3-1-1),
he recorded a 109 Speed rating last time and has shown the
ability to rate effectively while displaying his high-class speed.
The Mark Hennig trainee owns terrific BRIS E2 Pace numbers, but
he has caught small fields in his last two and is light on
seasoning under a 126-pound impost. We respect his chances and
will use him on the bottom of some gimmicks, but we’ll try to
beat him at possible underlaid odds.

DON SIX (Wild Escapade) likes the main track at the Big A and
will likely be on the fly from the start. He could prove tough at
long odds if able to clear on the front end. MEDALLIST (Touch
Gold) is a confirmed speedster but has been able to dominate on
the front end at longer distances. He faces some ultra-quick six-furlong
specialists here and might face too much early pressure.
EAVESDROPPER (Kingmambo) enters off some dull performances and is
unplaced in his only previous start over the Big A main track.
UNCLE CAMIE (Abaginone) will likely prompt the early going but
may find these rivals a little too salty in his graded bow. MAX’S
BUDDY (Irish River [Fr]) will need to improve significantly to
challenge.