Shore Runner Tries to Keep Streak Going in Troy
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NYRA
Lucky Coin hero Shore Runner will look to keep his three-race win streak intact when he contests Saturday's $100,000 Troy for 3-year-olds and up at 5 ½ furlongs on turf at Saratoga Race Course.
The 12th running of the Troy is part of an 11-race program on Saturday highlighted by the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama, which features a clash between Grade 1 CCA Oaks 1-2 finishers Curalina and I'm a Chatterbox, as well as Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner Lovely Maria.
Since he was claimed for $62,500 on June 10 at Belmont Park, Shore Runner has been a revelation for trainer Joe Sharp and owner Brad Grady. In his first start for his new connections, the 5-year-old gelding won an optional claimer at Belmont by 3 ¼ lengths, tracking the pace wide before mowing down last year's Troy winner Spring to the Sky, who had opened up a clear lead at the top of the stretch.
Making his next start in the Lucky Coin, his first stakes appearance, Shore Runner was bottled up for most of the trip before he bulled his way into the clear in the final sixteenth and unleashed a powerful rally to get up by a nose.
"His race in the Lucky Coin was amazing," said Sharp. "To do what he did, to overcome all that and still kick home in the last 70 yards, it was a remarkable turn of foot. He gobbled them up once he got clear."
Shore Runner's Lucky Coin triumph took on added significance because it was the first win at the Spa for Sharp, Grady, and jockey Kendrick Carmouche. If all goes according to plan, Sharp hopes to take Shore Runner and company to the Breeders' Cup this fall for the Turf Sprint.
"It's pretty neat to have the Breeders' Cup as a realistic goal," said Sharp. "When I claimed him I thought he could be a stakes-caliber horse, but the Breeders' Cup wasn't something I thought about since this is my first year on my own. A lot of things have to happen between now and then, and he has to be doing as good physically, but it's exciting. I couldn't think of a better team to go on this journey with."
Shore Runner will break from post 2 with Carmouche aboard.
Canadian invader Something Extra, trained by Gail Cox, will hope to improve on a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Highlander on July 5 at Woodbine in his most recent start. The 7-year-old gelding won the Grade 3 Shakertown at Keeneland earlier this year and finished second in the Grade 3 Jaipur at Belmont on June 6.
A son of Indian Charlie, Something Extra has compiled a record of 9-9-6 from 32 starts with earnings of nearly $1 million. He will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez from the rail.
Highlander winner Go Blue Or Go Home will look to keep the momentum going for trainer Reade Baker and owners Jim and Susan Hill. The capable turf sprinter was sent off at odds of 17-1 in the Highlander, but prevailed by a neck after pressing the early pace.
Go Blue Or Go Home will have the services of jockey Luis Saez, and the duo will depart from post 3.
Rounding out the field are Sandy'z Slew and Spring to the Sky, fourth and fifth in the Lucky Coin, respectively; Summer Breezing, a 1 ¾-length winner of a New York-bred optional claimer at the Spa in his latest outing; Havelock, a multiple graded stakes winner making his first start since September 2014; and Summation Time, third behind Shore Runner in his first-off-the-claim win at Belmont.
Weekend Hideaway is entered for the main track only.
Source: NYRA Communications
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