Eighttofasttocatch cross-entered to Laurel stakes for 2014
bow
Eighttofasttocatch will make his seasonal debut Saturday
afternoon at Laurel Park. Trainer Tim Keefe has cross-entered his star in both
the $100,000
Dave’s Friend and the $100,000
Japan Racing
Association, two of four stakes races on Saturday’s 10-race
card.
The eight-year-old gelding is the fourth choice, at 5-1, in the Dave’s
Friend, a six-furlong test on the main track, and is a 12-1 morning-line shot in
the Japan Racing Association at 1 1/16 miles, scheduled to be contested on the
turf. Forest Boyce will ride.
“It all really depends on weather,” Keefe explained. “He has run well on the turf.
He has run in the Japan twice, once on the turf (when fifth in 2012) and once on the main
track when he won (in 2011). The year he finished fifth was a remarkably good race
off a layoff and I think he can handle the turf.
“I cross-entered him in the
Dave’s Friend because it is a shorter field and definitely on the dirt. I am
leaning towards that one unless the Japan comes off the turf then we would go
that route. Obviously three-quarters is not his best distance but he broke his
maiden at the distance early in his career and he is very sharp right now.
“He is
so smart. He knows he is getting ready to run. He knows my routine. This isn’t
the perfect scenario because one race is not his preferred distance and the
other is not his preferred surface but we gear everything up for Maryland
Million day.”
Keefe said Saturday’s season debut will be used as a prep
race for the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic on October 18, a race
Eighttofasttocatch has won two of the previous three years, including a 3 1/4-length victory last year.
“We gave him time off at the beginning of the year and were
hoping to run at Pimlico but he was getting a little filling in one of his
ankles that he had not had before so we decided to stop so he could be fresh for
this meet,” added Keefe, who will run in the Chicago Marathon six days prior to
Maryland Million.
“We are going to retire him at the end of the year. I could
have brought him back sooner but that would have meant shipping around during
the summer and to me that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
After finishing third in the 2010 Maryland Million Turf,
the chestnut son of Not For Love has responded with 12 victories in 26 main track starts,
including 10 stakes scores. He is currently 15-7-4 from 46 lifetime races and is just
$85,415 shy of becoming Keefe’s first millionaire.
“Right now I am thinking three races to end his career as
long as he is healthy: Saturday, the Maryland Million Classic and the Jennings
Handicap (on December 6), a race he has won three years in a row,” Keefe said.
“It
would be great for him to reach the million dollar milestone. He has been the
best horse in my barn in terms of earnings on the track and because of his
personality. He is a wonderful horse to be around. He will retire to our farm
and we’ll try to turn him into an event horse.”
Thirteen runners are entered in the Japan Racing
Association with Legendary set as the 8-5 morning line favorite. The
British-bred Niall Saville trainee has made four starts
in the United States this year, posting two wins at Belmont Park and a third-place finish at Saratoga in the Lure Stakes. Sheldon Russell has the mount.
Seven sprinters are entered in the Dave’s Friend
and Bern Identity is set to break from the rail as the 9-5 morning line choice.
The Bernstein four-year-old is two-for-two this year after winning the My
Frenchman and Tale of the Cat at Monmouth Park and Saratoga, respectively, for trainer
Kelly Breen. Multiple stakes winner Trickmeister is 5-2 second choice and the
race also includes Lemon Drop Dream, hero of the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap and
runner-up in the Maryland Sprint Handicap over the spring.
Sheer Drama will carry Trevor
McCarthy for trainer David Fawkes as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the
$100,000
Thirty-Eight Go Go
at a mile on the main track. She’s made three stakes starts, with her best
effort a second-place finish in Belmont’s Belle Cherie last year. She’ll meet
six other fillies and mares, including Delaware Park’s Justakiss winner
South Andros.
The first stakes of the afternoon is the $125,000
All Brandy for registered Maryland-bred fillies and mares at
1 1/8 miles on the turf. Graham Motion’s Joy, the 7-5 program favorite, won the
Christiana at Delaware last year and the Perfect Sting on the
yielding turf at Belmont on July 4. She will carry Alex Cintron against seven
others including 9-5 second choice Nashly’s Vow, a four-time winner on the
grass.
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