Photo: NYRA
Trainer Bruce Brown issued an upbeat bulletin Saturday, the morning
after Spring to the Sky earned a
bullet for his five-furlong breeze in 59.08 seconds on the Oklahoma turf course in the lead up to next
Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame for
3-year-olds.
“He went in 59, did it nice, easy,” said Brown. “He
came out of his last race very good and seems to be coming into this race in
great shape.”
The 1 1/16-mile Hall of Fame will be the third start on turf for Spring
to the Sky, who is by Langfuhr and is a grandson of Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup
Filly & Mare Turf winner Soaring Softly. He was fifth in the Grade 3 Hill
Prince on June 16 at Belmont Park and third in the Duluth overnight stakes on July 22 at
Saratoga Race Course.
“The first [turf race] wasn’t in the plans at all,”
said Brown. “That race was one of those last-second things. I
wasn’t training him to go long, and I wasn’t looking to run him in
stakes company. He ran a big race. He got pressed but still hung in there. He
had every right to fold up in that race. We got him up here early and trained
him on the grass, and he has just gotten better and better.”
Brown added that even though Spring to the Sky began his career with
three starts on the dirt, he and owner Anthony McCarthy suspected the colt
would be best on the turf.
“We knew he had turf breeding, but a lot of times you try to
avoid grass because it’s not as commercial and you have limited
opportunities, depending on the weather and the season,” said Brown.
“He’s good on the dirt, but he just floats on the turf.”
Brown noted how Spring to the Sky has become easier to rate as he has
stretched out in distance and switched over to grass.
“He’s a very fast horse, so you don’t want to
completely take that away from him, but the more we have run him on the grass
and the more we have run him long he’s become more kind to rating,”
he said. “He’ll go as fast as you want him to, but he’s
gotten better.”