Caracortado, whose spectacular last-to-first victory in the Daytona
Stakes on Jan. 8 fooled even the omniscient eyes of Trevor Denman, will
return to the same venue a week from Saturday when he runs in the
Sensational Star Stakes.
For his part, the legendary Denman makes no apologies for his
real-time Daytona assessment of Caracortado’s chances. “To me, it was a
once in a lifetime kind of performance,” said Denman. “I have never seen
a horse do what Caracortado did. He was dead in the water at the three
sixteenths pole. He wasn’t going anywhere. You can look back at horses
like Silky Sullivan, but in his case, you could see he was gathering
himself, that he was going to make a run. In this case, Caracortado was
doing nothing. It was truly amazing.”
Like the Daytona, the $100,000 Sensational Star is scheduled to be run at about 6 ½ furlongs on turf.
“It’s for Cal-breds, the horse is doing well, it’s down the hill
and it gives me six weeks to the Kilroe,” Machowsky said Friday morning
in explaining his decision to run in the Sensational Star rather than
the Grade II Arcadia Stakes at one mile on turf on Feb. 4.
The Grade I Frank E. Kilroe Mile, also on turf, will be run on
March 3, the day of the Grade I, $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap and the
Grade I, $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.