The 2-year-old Outfielder is back in America after a decent fourth-place finish in the Group 1 Prix Morny on Aug. 24 at Deauville Racecourse.
His trainer, Wesley Ward, had won the Morny three times, but said, with good evidence behind him, that this year’s renewal came up much tougher than the years when Campanelle, Lady Aurelia, and No Nay Never won. Outfielder, making just his second start following a May 23 Churchill Downs turf-sprint maiden romp, broke a half-step slow in the straight-course, six-furlong Morny and was beaten 2 3/4 lengths.
“I liked his race against such a high-caliber field,” Ward said. “That Morny was way tougher than the ones I’d run in.”
Ward said a request he made for Outfielder to be loaded last into the gate was denied. The colt got fractious after going in and had to be backed out and reloaded.
“He was just a hair slow out of there. It wasn’t that big of an excuse,” Ward said.
Outfielder figures to be a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint, which Ward also has won three times. Ward said he’d get Outfielder back into steady training at his Keeneland base before making plans for the rest of his 2-year-old campaign.
* Shred the Gnar, who was scratched lame from the Acorn Stakes in June at Saratoga, showed up on the work tab for the first time since scoring a seven-length victory in a two-turn, first-level Churchill allowance on May 2. Shred the Gnar, trained by Brian Lynch and on Beyer Speed Figures one of the fastest 3-year-old fillies this season, breezed three furlongs in 37.20 seconds on Aug. 31 at Churchill.
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