The always-muddled picture for the five-furlong Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, which traditionally draws an overflow cast, began to clear up over the weekend when five stakes that could produce starters were run in North America.
On Friday in the Grade 3 Futurity at Belmont at Aqueduct, Intricate Spirit defeated Longshoreman under a canny ride by Joel Rosario, who rationed his mount’s speed rather than burning himself up dueling with the runner-up. Trainer Miguel Clement believes the colt will relish five furlongs on firm turf at Del Mar, and liked how kindly his colt rated.
“He’s versatile and Joel will be able to do whatever he wants with him,” he said.
Aqueduct carded the sister race to the Futurity, the Grade 3 Matron, last Thursday with Final Accord besting Royal Testament. Final Accord is likely to stretch out in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The Speakeasy was run at Santa Anita on Saturday. Trainer Phil D’Amato credited jockey Umberto Rispoli and his agent with suggesting that Later Than Planned ought to cut back in distance after he finished seventh in the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf at a mile. Later Than Planned rallied strongly in the lane past favored Bacio in the final strides. He could get an ideal setup in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which is likely to have a strong early pace.
The Algonquin Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday was followed about 20 minutes later by the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland. Cy Fair, facing colts, dominated the Algonquin.
In the Indian Summer, highly regarded Schwarzenegger indicated he’ll be part of the pace in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, leading all the way to score by a half-length and win his maiden in the process under John Velazquez.
“We always thought a lot of him,” trainer Wesley Ward said.
Ward pointed out that early in the year, Schwarzenegger was earmarked as the potential star of the crop for jockey Velazquez to ride. “Johnny has been winning races for me for 25 years, so early on in the year we tried to come up with what we thought was the best 2-year-old for him. David Flores was on [Schwarzenegger] too, and I said, ‘Which one, David?’ and he said, ‘This is Johnny’s.’ ”
Ward thinks his colt will be suited by the conditions at Del Mar.
“He’s a sprinter and that’s a very fast track out there at Del Mar,” Ward said. “It’ll be firm, we won’t have any weather issues, and it won’t be 5 1/2 [furlongs] like it was [in the Indian Summer].
“Johnny said there was a lot of moisture in the track [at Keeneland]. They watered it pretty good. So when we get to Del Mar it should be great for him, and it’s also five [furlongs] instead of 5 1/2. So everything’s heading our direction now.”
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