Grade 1 winner Warrior’s Reward will try to snap a three-start
winless skid as he takes on ten challengers in the $175,000 Phoenix
Stakes (G3) on Friday, opening day of the Keeneland Race Course fall
meeting.
The four-year-old Medaglia d'Oro
colt, trained by Ian Wilkes, opened the season with consecutive
victories in a seven-furlong optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park
and the seven-furlong Carter Handicap (G1), where he defeated highly
regarded Musket Man and Munnings.
The Phoenix will be only his second start on a synthetic surface. He
finished fifth of seven in the seven-furlong Perryville Stakes (G3)
last fall on Keeneland’s Polytrack surface.
Warrior’s Reward enters the six-furlong race off a sixth-place
finish behind Quality Road in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on May 31
at Belmont Park and a fourth-place finish behind Here Comes Ben, Musket
Man, and Vineyard Haven in the Forego Stakes (G1) on September 4 at
Saratoga Race Course.
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