Mr Freeze back at a lucrative distance in Oaklawn Handicap
He never ran better than when he won the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) two months ago. And if it were not for the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, he would have traveled for the Godolphin Mile (G2) in Dubai.
So coming off a career-high 107 Beyer Speed Figure, why is Mr Freeze going back to 1 1/8 miles for Saturday’s Grade 2 $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap? As his trainer Dale Romans pointed out, that is where the three-time graded stakes winner has made most of his $1.3 million.
“You look at his nine-furlong record,” Romans said in a telephone conversation Tuesday morning from south Florida. “It’s five starts: one win, two seconds and a third. Two of his seconds were to Tom’s d’Etat, one of the best horses in the country. And he’s earned $935,000 at a mile and an eighth.”
That includes $600,000 for finishing a distant second to Mucho Gusto in the Pegasus World Cup, which marked his 5-year-old debut three months ago at Gulfstream Park. So while his horse by To Honor And Serve has lost four consecutive starts at nine furlongs since winning the 2018 West Virginia Derby (G3), Romans also sees that he has five Beyer figures of at least 99 at that distance.
“I’ve never been one to say that he’s only a miler,” Romans said. “He’s just caught better horses.”
Mr Freeze will see plenty of good ones Saturday. The field of 14 includes Razorback Handicap (G3) winner Warrior’s Charge, New Orleans Classic (G2) winner By My Standards and last year’s Belmont Stakes and Travers (G1) runner-up Tacitus, who will tote the top weight of 121 pounds.
“It’s a completely loaded field,” Romans said. “There’s no place else for anybody to go. I think (racing secretary) Pat Pope put a little too much weight (118 pounds) on my horse, but we’ll see what happens. Realistically, we’re where we should be. And so is Tacitus. He’s a $2 million earner. He’s a solid competitor everywhere he goes.”
Joe Talamo, whose agent is Romans’s son Jake, will be the fourth different jockey in as many races for Mr Freeze. But that does not concern Romans. “He’s not very difficult to ride. Just leave the gate and hang on.”
Romans said that he expects Mr Freeze to go to a fast lead, likely to be shared early by Warrior’s Charge.
What Romans did not expect was the sudden turn of events last month that ground so much of the world to a standstill. Romans was all set to fly himself and Mr Freeze to Dubai when the coronavirus took precedence.
“Right about 10 days before the race we were going over,” Romans said. “But it was getting very complicated. About that time it was looking bad. You knew it was going to heat up real quick, so I made the call to pull the plug and not ship him. And I’m glad I did. He didn’t have to go through all that rigmarole shipping there and coming back.”
As a result, Mr Freeze maintained most of his normal training. He was most recently clocked Sunday at 1:01.2 working five furlongs at Gulfstream Park.
“I skipped one workout two weeks ago when I wasn’t sure where we were going,” Romans said. “Other than that he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s trained great. He had a good work (Sunday), and he gets on a the plane (Wednesday morning) at 8:30.”
With Romans staying put in Florida, trainer Kelly Von Hemel will look after Mr Freeze at Oaklawn Park.
Ron Flatter has covered horse racing around the world for more than 30 years. Currently based in Nevada and working for the Vegas Stats & Information Network, he is host of the weekly Ron Flatter Racing Pod and on Twitter @ronflatter.