Cage Fighter Makes First Start Back Since Breeders' Cup

Matthew Schera’s Cage Fighter will make Laurel Park his 11th different track from 18 lifetime starts when he goes to the gate in Saturday’s $75,000 Henry S. Clark Stakes.

 

The one-mile Clark for 3-year-olds and up on the Kelso Turf Course attracted a competitive field of 11 older horses including 6-year-old Cage Fighter, unraced since finishing last of 12 at odds of 150-1 in the 1 ½-mile Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

 

“He’s done well. We did a little work on him and this will be his first race back since the Breeders’ Cup. We realized in the Breeders’ Cup that he’s probably not looking to go over a mile and a quarter. I think he’s better suited for a mile to a mile and an eighth,” Fair Hill-based trainer James ‘Chuck’ Lawrence II said. “He’s been around but he likes it here. In turf races, it all comes down to the trip.”

 

The Breeders’ Cup was the only time Cage Fighter finished worse than fourth from seven 2015 starts that included two wins, two seconds, a third and $270,650 in purse earnings. He opened with a second-level allowance win last April at Pimlico Race Course and also captured the PTHA President’s Cup Stakes in September at Parx.

 

Cage Fighter was beaten a nose in the Knickerbocker (G3) at Belmont Park prior to the Breeders’ Cup and was second in the Dixie (G2) at Pimlico in May. He also ran well when finishing third in the Oceanport (G3) and fourth in the Monmouth Stakes (G2) last summer at Monmouth Park.

 

“We’re looking for him to run well. He doesn’t necessarily have to win first time out but we look for him to run well,” Lawrence said. “We’re pointing for the Dixie; that’s the big thing for us. We’ve got high hopes and we’re using this race as a stepping-stone to get there. That’s the plan, anyway. You know this horse business, hopefully the plan works.”

 

Claimed for $40,000 off a runner-up effort in August 2014 at Saratoga Race Course, Cage Fighter did not race again until debuting for his new connections last April. He’s had four works over Fair Hill’s all-weather track since mid-March.

 

“He’s been doing everything we hoped for and more,” Lawrence said. “He’s got a really cool personality for a big colt. The kids love him. He’s just as docile as he can be as long as there’s not a filly around. He’s a really cool individual. He puts everything he’s got into training and racing, which you have to be a little careful with him because he’ll do too much. What a lovely individual. He’s good-looking and he gives you 110 percent every day. It’s a pleasure to train him, I can tell you that.”

 

 

Fair Hill-based trainer Graham Motion will return Grade 3 winners Golden Sabre and Edge of Reality to stakes company in the Clark.

 

Sam-Son Farm homebred Golden Sabre, a 6-year-old Medaglia d’Oro gelding, made his 2016 debut finishing last of eight in an optional claiming allowance March 11 at Tampa Bay Downs, his first start in four months. The winner of that race, Special Envoy, is entered in the Clark.

 

The Clark will be Golden Sabre’s first start since being transferred to Motion, who has given him two breezes over Fair Hill’s all-weather surface including five furlongs in 1:00.20 April 16. Sam-Son Farm manager Tom Zweisler was the trainer of record in Tampa.

 

“He ran off the farm. After that, Tom spoke to me about taking him over and he came up to Fair Hill and we took over his training up here,” Motion said. “He’s had two nice works. He seemed in good shape when he came to me. Really kind of what I’ve done with him have sort of been just maintenance works. This race just seemed like a good fit on the calendar with him and being a local race on a good turf course.”

 

Golden Sabre raced for trainer Malcom Pierce in his native Canada where he won two of seven starts between August 2014 and November 2015, including the Durham Cup Stakes (G3) last October over Woodbine’s synthetic surface and was second in the Sky Classic (G2) and Nijinsky (G2), both on turf.

 

“He certainly has some back class. Having had a race under his belt I hope he’ll be very competitive,” Motion said. “I know they think a lot of him. I just don’t really know the horse that well yet. I haven’t had him very long but I know he’s got a great reputation at Sam-Son and they think highly of him.”

 

Motion also supplemented The Elkstone Group’s homebred Edge of Reality to the Clark. Third in his 6-year-old debut, a March 19 allowance at Parx, the gelded son of Grade 1 winner Lawyer Ron is a four-time stakes winner, the biggest coming in the 2013 Smarty Jones (G3).