Arzak finished seventh in the Shakertown Stakes on April 8, breaking trainer Michael Trombetta’s string of five straight finishes of third or better in Keeneland turf-sprint stakes dating to the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Future Is Now was part of that streak, capturing the Grade 2 Franklin last October, and she’ll be favored to renew Trombetta’s Keeneland turf-sprint success Sunday in the Grade 3, $350,000 Giant’s Causeway.
Future Is Now showed her turf-sprint chops from the start, earning a stakes-level 93 Beyer Speed Figure in her third race. She put together an awesome 2024 campaign, winning five races, four stakes, and a half-million bucks. She earned a career-best 99 Beyer making her Keeneland debut in the Franklin.
“After she won the race at Keeneland, we had this one in mind for her all winter,” Trombetta said last weekend.
Future Is Now got some down time at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland but never left the track, Trombetta said. He sees no reason she can’t kick off her 2025 campaign like she ended 2024, and that will make her formidable under Paco Lopez.
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Ten were entered in the 5 1/2-furlong Giant’s Causeway, but Future Is Now, the 9-5 morning-line favorite, faces no more than eight, with B G Warrior coming out in favor of an allowance race, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said.
Future Is Now holds the best asset a turf sprinter can deploy – manageable speed.
Short turf races often come down to luck and Future Is Now can make her own, breaking sharply and going forward, but she is also comfortable sitting just behind rivals. That’s how she won the Franklin, beating tough-trip favorite Star of Mystery by three-quarters of a length.
A half-length behind Star of Mystery came Pandora’s Gift, one of two in the Giant’s Causeway, along with Danse Macabre, making their first starts for trainer Christophe Clement.
Pandora’s Gift came from England last fall with owner-trainer Stuart Williams, finishing second in the Presque Isle Downs Masters before her somewhat one-paced Keeneland start. She later was disqualified from her Franklin placing after testing positive for the prohibited medication gabapentin.
Pandora’s Gift later in October fetched $850,000 from the Sarf Family’s LSU Stables when Williams took her to the Keeneland Championship sale. She posted her first work for Clement on Feb. 1 at Payson Park and has English form to validate her solid American form.
Danse Macabre rallied late to finish second, one place in front of Future Is Now, in the Caress last July at Saratoga, but only after Future Is Now got hooked into a brutal speed duel. Danse Macabre went to Clement at Payson in February after spending the earlier part of winter with her former trainer at Turfway Park.
Future Is Now’s leading rival might also come from Fair Hill. Four-year-old Toupie has won three turf-sprint stakes in her last six starts, though she went to California for the last two of them to run 6 1/2 furlongs on Santa Anita’s downhill course. Toupie, who has a lot of speed, is 1-2-0 from four starts at 5 1/2 furlongs.
“I think she’s quick enough to do this,” said trainer Graham Motion, who eschewed another California adventure in favor of the Giant’s Causeway. “She’s quite tough to train – pretty high energy.”
Still, Future Is Now’s past showing at Keeneland ought to suffice again. A half-year later, she’s still the now horse.
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