Kinsale King, who made a comeback off a five-month layoff in the
Bing Crosby Handicap on July 31, will take a step back in distance and
change surfaces when he faces eight rivals in Wednesday’s $85,000-added
Green Flash Handicap.
The Grade I, $250,000 Crosby was at Kinsale King’s preferred
six-furlong distance and preferred synthetic surface (6-for10). The
winner of the 2010 $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai, was last of six
in the Crosby behind 1-2 finishers Euroears and Smiling Tiger.
The Green Flash is 5 ½ furlongs on the turf.
“You wish that it had been the other way around, this race before the
Crosby,” O’Callaghan said Sunday morning. “But I ran him in there and
thought he ran a bang-up race won in track record time. I’ve never run
him back this close in a race but he blew out the other morning in :46
and change.
“He ran on the grass in Europe and ran well I thought. He loves
synthetic and I want to stay there, but I want to avoid Smiling Tiger
and Euroears right now and this is probably the best spot.”