Doppelganger, Skippylongstocking lead Charles Town Classic field

When the unfortunate news broke last week of the passing of Bruce Lunsford’s two-time defending Charles Town Classic champion Art Collector due to complications of laminitis, it left a hole not only in the barn of trainer Bill Mott but also in the race he was looking to become the first three-time winner of.

As a result, a full field of 10 runners with one alternate will head to the gate Friday night as the Grade 2, $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic looks to crown its first new champion since Sleepy Eyes Todd took the 2020 edition of West Virginia’s richest race.

Grade 1-winner Doppelganger, multiple graded-stakes winner Skippylongstocking and late entrant Giant Game now will find themselves vying for favoritism in this year’s Charles Town Classic.

The night offers wagering opportunities for horseplayers such as a $100,000 guaranteed all-stakes Pick 5 that kicks off in race 7, a $100,000 guaranteed Pick 4 that starts with race 10, and a mandatory distribution of the Charles Town 6-12 jackpot carryover that currently sits at $50,456 and gets underway in race 8.

Trainer Brittany Russell will send out Doppelganger, winner of the Carter Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct this April. The 4-year-old son of top sire Into Mischief is coming off a win in the Battery Park Stakes at Delaware Park. Russell also took advantage of her stable’s proximity to Charles Town to get Doppelganger a work over the track and under the lights, which can be a variable for many runners racing at Charles Town for the first time. Working between races last Thursday, Doppelganger was credited with a half mile in 46.60 seconds and a robust gallop out in 59.40, indicating his readiness for Friday’s contest.

Doppelganger has the lone North American Grade 1 victory in this year’s field, but Skippylongstocking may attract more attention at the betting windows in this year’s Classic. The 4-year-old son of Exaggerator has consistently kept good company in his races, with the Classic set to mark his 11th consecutive start in graded-stakes company.

“He’s a hard-knocking horse that tries really hard every time,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “He danced in a lot of the big dances as a 3-year-old, you know, the Preakness, the Belmont, and then the West Virginia Derby (G3). So we know he likes it in West Virginia and hopefully he can pull off the double with the Charles Town Classic.”

Joseph also will send out O’Connor, who achieved Group 1-winning status in his native Chile. While he has yet to win a graded stakes stateside, Joseph feels his charge is rounding back into form at the right time.

“O’Connor was coming off a layoff last time out and he missed some training, so he probably needed that one,” said Joseph of his horse’s third place finish in the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes (G3). “We think he’s coming into this one in much better shape and I think we’ll see an improved effort.”

Giant Game took the field gate-to-wire in the Cornhusker Handicap (G3) two races back, defeating two Classic entrants in Skippylongstocking and Call Me Fast. The improving son of Giants Causeway for trainer Dale Romans followed up that effort with a fifth-place finish in the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, which saw him lead to the midway point of the far turn before tiring. Giant Game projects to be the pacesetter in this year’s Classic, with Martin Garcia named to ride.

Call Me Fast was another late addition to this year’s Classic field, with his connections choosing to supplement the gelded son of Dialed In to the race. Call Me Fast exits four consecutive tries against Grade 3 company.

“He’s been keeping pretty good company lately so this was a logical spot,” said trainer Mike Puhich. “I thought he ran a credible race at Prairie Meadows (in the Cornhusker Handicap (G3)), and showed he deserved a shot at the $1 million.”

Call Me Fast will have the services of Joe Talamo in the irons, and will also be putting blinkers back on for the Classic.

“We took the blinkers off before the Ben Ali (G3) at Keeneland to teach him how to settle, and he definitely did. But we’re putting them back on for this race so that hopefully he’ll put himself into the race a little earlier. But he’s versatile. And he’s breezed on a six-furlong track before his first start and he just rattled around the turns, so I don’t see that being an issue.”

The runner-up in last year’s Classic, local hopeful Muad’dib, is not coming into this year’s race in the same raging form as last year. He entered last year’s Classic 10-for-10 in his career. Although he tasted defeat for the first time that night, he was hardly disgraced by finishing second to a horse of Art Collector’s caliber.

His form since that night could be described as workmanlike. It includes four wins — all by margins of less than a length — and two more defeats, though each came with legitimate excuses according to two-time Charles Town Classic-winning trainer Jeff Runco. And although Muad’dib’s resume may not be as pristine as it was going into last year’s event, he does have the benefit of two more races under his belt this season than he did last year.

“He’s really good right now,” said Runco. “He had a couple of issues towards the end of last year, and we got those rectified. But he’s doing good and he’s ready to stretch back out.”

Trainer Raymond Ginter Jr. supplemented a pair of graded-stakes winners to the Classic in Kelso Handicap (G2) winner Double Crown and General George (G3) winner Eastern Bay, both for owner Built Wright Stables.

Rounding out the field are Perfect Flight for Peter Miller, Dash Attack for Ken McPeek, and a second local entrant Martin Man for trainer Wade Sanderson, who wound up as the lone alternate for this year’s field.

The Charles Town Classic is scheduled as Race 11 on the card with a post time of 10:25 p.m. EDT.