Hennig eyes Saratoga turf stakes next for Bourbon War

Trainer Mark Hennig said Bourbon Lane Stable and Lake Star Stable's Bourbon War will bypass the $100,000 Curlin Stakes on July 26, instead breezing on the turf with the Aug. 25 Better Talk Now an option for the stakes-placed son of Tapit.

Bourbon War finished second in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in March and fourth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby before contesting two legs of the Triple Crown.

First, the colt ran eighth in the Preakness before finishing 10th in the Belmont Stakes in his most-recent start.

"We're not targeting the Curlin," Hennig said. "He hasn't breezed yet following the Belmont and just came back in after a short layoff.

"We're going to get him back going and breeze him on the grass. If that goes well, we would consider something like the Better Talk Now."

Another of Hennig's trainees, Courtlandt Farms' homebred graded stakes winner Strike Power breezed four furlongs in 47.82 seconds on the Saratoga main track on Saturday and remains on target for the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt on July 27.

A 4-year-old son of Speightstown out of graded stakes-placed mare Gold d'Oro by Medaglia d'Oro, Strike Power won the Grade 3 Swale at Gulfstream as a 3-year-old before going on the Kentucky Derby trail to finish eighth in the 2018 Florida Derby and subsequently cutting back to seven furlongs, finishing eighth in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont. Following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Amsterdam, Strike Power tried turf, finishing ninth in the Better Talk Now.

Strike Power kicked off his 2019 campaign with an allowance victory at 6 ½ furlongs on the dirt at Gulfstream Park in April, and followed with a strong second in the Grade 2 True North, recording a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. 

"He's going to breeze again this weekend but we should be on schedule for the Vanderbilt," said Hennig. "He's been continuing to do well out of the True North. That was a good effort and if he runs back to that race we should he should be very competitive. We'll take it day-by-day, but he's continuing to do well."