A year ago, trainer Graham Motion sent a promising 3-year-old with
just a maiden victory to his credit to run in the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes
(G3). The rest is history.
Animal Kingdom captured not only the Spiral, but also the Kentucky
Derby en route to an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old of 2011. In 2012, another single-race winner will
represent Motion and owners Team Valor International and Mark Ford: Went the
Day Well.
After a tough-trip fourth in his U.S. debut on February 4 at the
Spiral distance of 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream, Went the Day Well came back to
break his maiden on March 3 at Gulfstream in a 1 1/16-mile contest.
“He came from Europe and got held up in quarantine,” said
Motion. “That caused him to lose some
fitness, and so we were playing catch-up with him. We’ve always liked him a lot, and he seems
like a horse who wants to go long on dirt.
We’d kick ourselves in June if we were to find out then that he is that
kind of horse. With Went the Day Well
having no graded earnings, the Spiral is a race he can get in to.”
Despite some reports to the contrary, Motion is not planning to
run State of Play in the Spiral. The son
of War Front won the final local prep for the Spiral, the John Battaglia
Memorial Stakes, on March 3. But in the
aftermath of the Battaglia, Motion was not seriously considering the Spiral as
a next race for State of Play.
“We’re going to point him to the Transylvania Stakes at
Keeneland,” said Motion. “We think he’s
more of a grass horse.”
John Velazquez will have the Spiral riding assignment on Went the
Day Well, his first race atop the New York-bred son of Proud Citizen. It was
Velazquez who piloted Animal Kingdom to victory in last year’s Kentucky Derby.
Went the Day Well will be flown from Florida to Motion’s Keeneland
base on Thursday. The horse will van to
Turfway on Saturday morning.
Arguably the most accomplished horse in the likely Spiral field is
California shipper Handsome Mike, who has competed in graded stakes events in
each of his last four starts. Last time
out, the son of Scat Daddy was third in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at
Golden Gate Fields at the Spiral distance. Handsome Mike was sent off the 2-1
favorite in that February 18 race and attended the early pace before
surrendering late to Daddy Nose Best and Lucky Chappy.
“We were happy with it,” said trainer Doug O’Neill of the El
Camino Real Derby effort. “We were hoping we could get him to settle a little
more. A long shot went with him and that
took a toll. He’s been progressing in his maturity since then. By now, he
should be able to take off another horse and not have to be on the early lead.
I think he’ll put in a big effort. His top effort should be pretty competitive
on Saturday.”
Handsome Mike wore blinkers for the first time in the El Camino
Real Derby, and O’Neill says the shades will stay on for the Spiral.
“Blinkers sort of have the reverse effect with this horse,” said
O’Neill. “They tend to settle him
down. He has a lot of natural speed, and
we’ve found the blinkers help him shut off and become a little more relaxed.”
One thing that will change for Handsome Mike on Saturday is his
rider. Top California jockey Joel Rosario will journey to Turfway Park to pilot
Handsome Mike for the first time.
Handsome Mike is expected to arrive at Turfway on Wednesday, with
O’Neill arriving Saturday morning to personally oversee last-minute
preparations.
One member of the prospective Spiral field is a maiden—but one who
has kept some pretty heady company.
Coach Royal was second last out in a Gulfstream Park maiden grass event
on February 19. The race was Coach
Royal’s first since Jim Covello purchased him privately and handed him over to
trainer Justin Sallusto. One thing that appealed to Covello and Sallusto was
the list of horses Coach Royal faced last year and this year in those maiden
races.
“The horse that beat him last year at Saratoga by a head (Daddy
Nose Best) went on to win the El Camino Real at Golden Gate,” Sallusto
said. “(Coach Royal) also finished very
close behind Optimizer, who ran a big second in Arkansas last weekend. The
horses he has been running against have seemed to escalate and become stakes
horses.”
Risen Star winner El Padrino and Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Golden
Ticket are other names that pop up in Coach Royal’s company lines. All that
aside, however, Sallusto also likes the way his horse is coming up to
Saturday’s race.
“He has made a dramatic improvement since the time that I got him,
and also since the last race at Gulfstream,” said Sallusto. “That day, he was
beaten by a very nice horse of Chad Brown’s.
I think if he adapts to the Polytrack, which I think he will, he will be
formidable.”
By Lemon Drop Kid out of an A.P. Indy mare, Coach Royal has the
kind of pedigree that could serve him well as the race distances get longer.
Coach Royal also gets blinkers for the first time on Saturday.
“To me it seems that many of the horses on Saturday won’t want the
mile and an eighth,” said Sallusto. “I know my horse will go a mile and a
half. We’ve also made the addition of
blinkers today to keep him focused. In past races, he seems to hang when he
makes the lead. So putting everything
together, maybe we’ll surprise the world.”
Fernando Jara will have the mount on Coach Royal, who will ship by
air to Turfway on Thursday. Sallusto
will arrive Saturday to saddle his horse.
A strong performance by Coach Royal would represent a second great
Spiral day for owner Covello, who last year won the Rushaway with Swift
Warrior. Covello also watched his Lilacs
and Lace run fourth in last year’s Bourbonette Oaks, a precursor to her upset
win three weeks later in the Grade I Ashland Stakes at Keeneland.
D. Wayne Lukas has 36 stakes wins at Turfway Park, more than any
other trainer, so taking a chance with Red Jack in the Spiral Stakes is perhaps
less chance than calculation. “We know
this is a stretch for him,” said Lukas.
“He has to step up against a field of this caliber. So we’re taking a flyer with him, and maybe
he’ll get a piece of it. We’re realistic; we don’t have any grandiose ideas
that he’s going to run away from this field.
But we also know this race can be peculiar, with horses not always
running to form. And we’ve been lucky at
Turfway before.”
Third last out in an Oaklawn claiming race, Red Jack has just one
win in nine career starts. On the plus
side, that win came at the Spiral Stakes distance on the Churchill Downs turf. “I think he’ll take to the (all-weather)
surface,” Lukas said, “and the distance will be of no consequence.”
A son of Exchange Rate and grandson of Danzig, Red Jack is owned
by Bluegrass Hall LLC. He is stabled at
Churchill Downs and will ship to Turfway on Saturday. His rider has not yet been named.
Two days ahead of the draw on Thursday, probables for the Vinery
Racing Spiral Stakes are Coach Royal (Sallusto), Heavy Breathing and Holiday
Promise (Todd Pletcher), Went the Day Well (Motion), Ill Conceived (John
Servis), Stealcase (Mark Casse), Tizanexpense and Mr. Prankster (Mike Maker),
Red Jack (Lukas), Handsome Mike (O’Neill), and Russian Greek (Jerry
Hollendorfer).
The Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes is the 10th of 12 races on
Saturday. Supporting the feature are
three other stakes: the Bourbonette Oaks (G3), one mile for 3-year-old fillies;
the Rushaway, 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds, and the Hansel, six furlongs for
3-year-olds. First post Saturday is 1:10
p.m. Post time for the Spiral Stakes is
approximately 5:45 p.m.