High Noon Rider Heads to Churchill for Jefferson Cup

R.A. Hill Stable’s High Noon Rider is headed to Churchill Downs from New York with hopes of finding his first graded stakes victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Jefferson Cup (GIII) for 3-year-olds at one mile on Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn Turf Course.

 

Rated a 4-1 co-second choice on odds maker Mike Battaglia’s morning line, the homebred son of Distorted Humor comes into the race off of a wire-to-wire victory in the Better Talk Now at Saratoga for trainer George Weaver, who is looking to keep his horse up against fellow 3-year-olds.

 

“This was the logical next step for him,” Weaver said. “During this time of the year we have to take advantage of the races restricted for 3-year-olds while we can. We’re getting to the tail end of the year where we’ll have to start trying older horses. This race just fit him the best.”

 

Weaver also chose the Jefferson Cup because he believes his horse excels at the one-mile distance where he has won two of four starts.

 

“I think he’s better at a mile than a mile-and-an-eighth,” said Weaver, a native of Louisville. “There was a race for 3-year-olds at Belmont (the Hill Prince) and one at Laurel (the Commonwealth Derby) that we could have gone to but I really want to keep him at the mile distance. The Jefferson Cup was the most logical spot.”

 

Generally not a front runner, High Noon Rider set the pace last time out winning the Better Talk Now in gate-to-wire fashion. According to the trainer, one can expect him to be up close to the pace in Saturday’s race as well.

 

“Last time out, we were the longest shot on the board so we figured we had nothing to lose,” Weaver said. “A lot of what we do in here depends on the dynamics of the race but we’ll try to have him in a good and forwardly placed position.”

 

Weaver will be in town to saddle High Noon Rider in Saturday’s race. Leading rider Corey Lanerie has the mount.

 

FLASHY CHELSEY SEEKS TO GIVE VETERAN TRAINER O’CONNOR FIRST GRADED STAKES WIN

Bruce McCrea’s Flashy Chelsey will attempt to give long-time Churchill-based trainer Rob O’Connor II his first graded stakes victory when the 3-year-old goes to post in Saturday’s Jefferson Cup.

 

“This horse has been underrated his whole life,” O’Connor said. “If they put enough speed in there, then he’s a good horse … people just don’t know it yet.”

 

The homebred son of Flashy Bull has never finished off the board in his last seven starts, all of which have been on the turf.

 

“What he did at Kentucky Downs coming off the layoff and that race was predominately speed that day,” O’Connor said. “That race was a one-turn sprint mile which is not his forte, and he did what he had to do to win that day because he was the best horse. As mediocre as that race may seem to some, it was impressive because I know my horse.”

 

McCrea and O’Connor claimed Flashy Chelsey for $30,000 at last year’s September Meet following a victory in a maiden claiming event at Churchill Downs based off of the horse’s family history. O’Connor trained both the dam What’d I Say and the granddam Musical Miss.

 

“I know the horse’s family really well and it seems to have worked out well from there,” O’Connor said. “Prior to the time that I had claimed him he looked like a predominately speed horse. But as we gave him the time off and he grew, we figured out that’s not what we wanted to do. So when we started bringing him off the pace and saw his true ability, he was doing things that were impressive to me. When the rider would back off of him and when he would get it together he would start running. I was telling my clients that he was doing things that people aren’t seeing and that he’s a better horse.

 

“Everybody thinks that he’s just a turf horse and he might be. I’m not changing anything yet because it’s not broke, but when it comes down to it, if there’s mud and the purse is up there, he’s running because I’m not so sure he’s strictly a turf horse. A mile isn’t his ideal distance either; I think he can run at a mile-and-a-half.”

 

O’Connor’s ultimate goal with Flashy Chelsey would be to run at Gulfstream Park in the Claiming Crown at the end of the year.

 

Francisco Torres, the pilot in his last four starts, returns to the saddle for the Jefferson Cup. Torres entered Friday’s action needing five victories to reach the 3,000 career-win milestone.