Recruiting Ready could try turf after Bing Crosby bust

Sagamore Farm and its private trainer, Stanley Hough, shipped Recruiting Ready to California last week to dodge a showdown with Mitole in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1).

“It turns out we were avoiding Imperial Hint,” quipped Sagamore’s president, Hunter Rankin, after that sprinter ran to a six-furlong track record at Saratoga.

Hours later, Recruiting Ready missed the board, finishing sixth of seven in Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Stakes (G1), another top race for sprinters.

The 5-year-old son of Algorithms stalked Cistron, who drove through fractions of 22.10 and 45.16, never much looking back on his way to a half-length victory.

In hindsight, “We think it was the right thing to do,” Rankin said. “He shipped out there and was the favorite in a Grade 1. He would have been 12 or 15-1 at Saratoga.”

Recruiting Ready missed the board for the first time this season in what was his sixth start. Along the way, he won the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes (G3) and ran third by a half length to Catalina Cruiser in Belmont Park's True North (G2).

Whether it be because of the travel west or a Del Mar surface to which not all horses take, Recruiting Ready didn’t fire. Now he’s headed home with a new plan.

“We might try to get him on the grass,” Rankin said. “He’s never been on the grass, but he’s got the foot for it and acts like he might like it.”

The John’s Call, a 5 1/2-furlong sprint at Saratoga, could fit the bill. It’s restricted to horses that haven’t won a stakes over the lawn in 2019.

Beyond Saratoga, Rankin mentioned going to Kentucky Downs, which on Sept. 7 runs its $700,000 Turf Sprint that this season is a “Win and You’re In” as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.