Trainer Eddie Kenneally said this morning that he plans to
run Gary and Mary West's
Safe Trip in Monday's Grade 2, $150,000
Amsterdam for 3-year-olds running six and one-half furlongs.
Since coming off a nine-month layoff, Safe Trip has won two
races, a maiden race and an allowance race, and recently finished third to
multiple graded stakes winner Discreetly Mine in the Grade 3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth Park.
"We always had high regard for him," Kenneally
said. "We liked his last race because it was a test of his class.
Obviously, we are concerned about Discreetly Mine in the race. Still, we are
happy with him."
Safe Trip had only one race as a 2-year-old, never reaching
contention against eventual Grade 3 winner Thiskyhasnolimit over a sloppy
Churchill Downs track. After that race, Kenneally decided to give the gelding
some time to regroup.
"He had some typical 2-year-old issues," Kenneally
said. "He needed some time to mature."
Along with Safe Trip and Discreetly Mine, other
candidates for the Amsterdam include Backtrack,
Catalan, Essence Hit Man, General Maximus, In Jack's
Memory, and Make Note.