After running two big races in a six-day span last month at Kentucky Downs, the key question is whether Axthelm can ship to New York and replicate those performances when taking on eight rivals in Saturday’s $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint at Aqueduct. The Grade 3 Turf Sprint will be decided at six furlongs on the outer course.
Axthelm, who has run the majority of his 16 career races on grass at distances of either five or 5 1/2 furlongs, proved the added ground was to his advantage when stretching out to 6 1/2 furlongs to register a game, half-length allowance victory at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 1. Deciding to strike while the iron was hot and big money on the table, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. wheeled Axthelm back less than a week later and was rewarded with an even stronger performance, a late-running third-place finish behind division leader Cogburn going six furlongs in the Grade 3 Turf Sprint. He received a career best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He was getting outrun a little too much early going five and five and one-half furlongs in many of his previous races, but six and six and a half is right up his alley,” said Joseph. “He turned in a couple of disappointing races during the spring but he seemed to bounce back to form at Kentucky Downs.
“Obviously we don’t usually run horses twice in six days, but he’s a big, strong kind of horse, came out of the first race well, and with the purses they offer there you can really get rewarded if you get it right. And I thought both his races were very good.”
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Joseph did not seem fazed by the fact Axthelm will break from the rail in the Turf Sprint.
“If he can break well and get a little pocket, he should be all right,” said Joseph. “The distance is perfect for him and I feel very confident that if he shows up again, like he did in Kentucky, he’s going to be right there at the end.”
A case can be made for just about any of the other eight members of the Turf Sprint lineup, four of whom – Alogon, Determined Kingdom, Mischievous Angel, and Outlaw Kid –are coming off recent victories while Nothing Better has been beaten just a neck and a nose in a pair of stakes in his last two starts.
The remainder of the lineup includes Maya Prince and Senbei, both stakes placed in their latest outings, and Son of a Birch, who had a modest two-race winning streak snapped in his last start. Prince of Jericho was entered main track only.
Alogon was a game winner of the Parx Dash five weeks ago, his first win in four tries this season.
Determined Kingdom, who figures to set the early pace, was a popular winner of a restricted overnight handicap over the turf at Colonial Downs going 5 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 31.
Mischievous Angel defeated higher-level allowance rivals stretching to seven furlongs at Kentucky Downs for his third win in six career starts last out, while Outlaw Kid captured a Canadian-bred stakes at Woodbine turning back to five-eighths on Aug. 25.
Nothing Better, who could go postward the slight favorite, won a pair of stakes earlier this season at Churchill Downs before suffering frustrating losses in the Select at Monmouth Park and Da Hoss at Colonial in his last two tries. He has won three of his six career starts over the turf at Aqueduct.
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