Trainer Derek Ryan confirmed that 4-year-old Musket Man will
make his next start in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at
Churchill Downs.
“He’ll have a pair of works and then ship to Kentucky
on the 31st,” said Ryan, a native of Ireland
who’s been a Monmouth
Park mainstay the past
five years. “He came out of his last race fine and he’s doing well.”
His last effort was a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup on Saturday,
Oct. 9. Musket Man was kept down on the inside most of the way before angling
four wide for the stretch drive and falling a neck short of Etched in the mile
and an eighth test.
“Everyone seemed to be riding Musket Man that day,” Ryan said. “I thought he’d
be much the best, but that’s part of racing I guess.”
Jockey Eibar Coa came out of the race with the exact same conclusion.
“I think because I was the favorite a lot of the other riders were riding me
and keeping us on the inside,” Coa said right after the Monmouth Cup.
From 14 career starts, Musket Man sports a record of 6-3-5 with earnings of
$1,235,570. The colt by Yonaguska from the Fortunate Prospect mare Fortuesque
earned graded victories in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and Illinois Derby (G2)
before finishing third in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.