Owner Art Preston and trainer Scooter Dickey
met at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning and decided to continue the
2011 campaign of Jockey Club Gold Cup (Grade I) and Suburban Handicap
(GII) winner Flat Out in the 137th running of the $500,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GI) on Friday, Nov. 25.
Flat Out is coming off a fifth-place finish behind WinStar Farm’s Drosselmeyer in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.
“He’s been doing really well since the Classic,” Dickey said. “Also,
it’s a Grade I race worth a $500,000. We’re excited about it.”
Flat Out finished just three lengths behind the victorious Drosselmeyer in the Classic.
“He really didn’t run a bad race,” Dickey said. “Losing by three
lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is nothing to be ashamed of.”
The Clark, a race for 3-year-olds and up run at 1
1/8 miles on the main track, could play a major role in the Eclipse
Award voting for Champion Older Male and Horse of the Year. But Dickey
said that was not a factor that determined Flat Out’s participation in
the race.
“A lot of people have been telling me that if he (Flat Out) wins (the
Clark) that he could be champion older male or maybe even Horse of the
Year,” Dickey said. “It’d be nice, but we’re not really worried about
all of that.”
The Classic was the third start at the Louisville track for Flat Out,
who launched his career at two with a sixth-place finish in a maiden
race. He also finished sixth in this year’s the Stephen Foster Handicap
Presented by Abu Dhabi (GI) won by Pool Play.
“We don’t really know why the same Flat Out that ran in the Suburban
and the Jockey Club didn’t show up in the Stephen Foster and the
Classic,” Dickey said. “He handles the track fine, though, and has
always trained very well over it.”
Flat Out’s one and only work for the Clark will come this weekend; however, the exact date of the work has yet to be decided.
“We’re going to see what the weather does and how the track looks,”
Dickey said. “The earliest he’ll work is Friday morning, but we might
push it back a day or two.”
After the Clark, Flat Out will be given some well-deserved time off before being prepared for a 2012 campaign.
“This (the Clark) will be the end of his year and then we’ll give him
some time,” Dickey said. “The goal is to come back next year in the
Donn Handicap (GI at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 11).”