Hey Nay Nay’s unbeaten streak ended emphatically with a 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31. The loss has done nothing to dim trainer John Sadler’s long-term expectations for a colt who is already a two-time stakes winner.
Hey Nay Nay can achieve a third stakes win since early August when he starts favored in Sunday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf at Del Mar, one of four stakes on the closing day of the track’s autumn meeting.
Hey Nay Nay drew the outside post in a field of seven. Granted, Hey Nay Nay has the outside post, but the starting berth is nothing like drawing 13 in a bulky 14-horse field in the BC Juvenile Turf. In that race, Hey Nay Nay disputed the pace to the quarter pole before fading to finish 7 1/2 lengths behind favored Gstaad.
“He ain’t in 13 like he was the other day,” trainer John Sadler said.
Hey Nay Nay has led or raced within a half-length of the front in the early going of his four starts. Sadler insists that Hey Nay Nay is not reliant on having the lead.
“He can lay second or whatever,” he said.
Sadler admits that racing four weeks after the Breeders’ Cup may not always be an ideal situation, but said Hey Nay Nay is an exception.
“He has looked great,” he said. “It’s time to go back over there.”
Owned by Hronis Racing and Iapetus Racing, Hey Nay Nay will be ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat, the colt’s fourth different rider in as many races. Prat has seven mounts at Del Mar on Sunday, including all four stakes.
Through Thursday, Prat has won a remarkable 41 races from 108 mounts this month. On Nov. 2 at Aqueduct, Prat won a record seven races. He won five on Nov. 23, four on two occasions, and three wins on four occasions.
“What I didn’t want to do is leave that jock in the room,” Sadler said. “He’s sizzling. He’s white hot.”
Hey Nay Nay may face early pressure from Track Tiger, the winner of a maiden race at five furlongs on turf on Nov. 2.
Proton, winner of the $125,000 Laurel Futurity on Sept. 27, starts from the inside and will race as a stalker.
Proton was second in the $200,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31 when ridden by John Velazquez. Proton lost by 1 1/2 lengths to Conducted, who led throughout.
“Johnny thought the horse ran great,” trainer Graham Motion said. “The only thing he could have done differently was put pressure on the horse on the lead, but maybe we wouldn’t have been second.”
Trainer Leonard Powell starts Caro Buono, fifth in the TAA Stakes after a slightly troubled trip, and Unrivaled Time, who won a maiden race for California-breds at a mile on turf by 4 1/2 lengths at Santa Anita on Oct. 19.
Caro Buono “has more experience than the other,” Powell said. Unrivaled Time “was quite impressive winning his maiden. They are equally capable.”
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