Live Oak
Plantation ’s Souper
Spectacular, a half-brother to Zenyatta by Giant’s
Causeway , returned to the worktab Wednesday morning at Saratoga Race
Course, his first breeze since April 17. Unraced since a fourth-place finish in
the Grade 3 Fort Lauderdale Stakes on January 9 at
Gulfstream
Park , the 4-year-old was clocked in 38.45 for three
furlongs over the
Oklahoma training track.
“We were getting him ready over
the winter and he needed some time after one workout, we gave him that time and
he’s coming back strong,” said trainer Seth Benzel. “He looks good. He actually
ran in two stakes down in South Florida against
horses with much more experience than he had. You know, I don’t think he was
beaten any more than two lengths in either one and really showed that the
potential is there to belong with some of those hard-knocking horses.”
In the
Fort Lauderdale , Souper
Spectacular missed third by a head. In his previous race, the Tropical Turf
Handicap at Calder Race Course on December 4, he was beaten three-quarters of a
length for show and only 1 ½ lengths separated the top three finishers. A maiden
winner at third asking on September 4 at
Saratoga last year, the colt smartly cleared
his allowance conditions at Keeneland in October and Aqueduct in November.
“We still have big plans for
him,” said Benzel. “I think any time these horses go through their conditions
like he did, they’re going to face that point where they’ve just advanced too
quickly and will be in against horses with more experience. I mean, he ran
against Rahy’s Attorney [in the Tropical Turf Handicap] at a point where Rahy’s
Attorney had made well over a million dollars. Those types of horses are
tough.”
Overall, Benzel said he was
pleased with Souper Spectacular’s progress thus far and looking forward to
watching him develop as the year goes on.
“Live Oak did a great job over
the winter of getting him back to us and he looks great,” said Benzel. “I think
the jury’s still out on whether he wants to go real far, or if a mile to a mile
and a sixteenth is his best distance. He had certain characteristics that I
think that make that a little hard to tell. Maturity is also going to dictate
what happens when he becomes a little bit more relaxed and more professional
about what he does. Right now, I think his best distance has been a mile and a
sixteenth and I can’t see any limitations as to how far he can go. I think it’s
just going to be a process getting there.”