Smooth Roller Gets Acquainted With Keeneland Oval

Lucky Charm Stable’s Smooth Roller got his first sampling of the main track at Keeneland on a clear and chilly Tuesday morning by jogging once around under exercise rider Oscar Olguin for trainer Victor Garcia.

A Keeneland September Yearling Sale graduate, Smooth Roller punched his ticket to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Oct. 31 with a 5¼-length victory in the Awesome Again (G1) on Sept. 26 at Santa Anita. That race was only the fourth start for the 4-year-old son of Hard Spun.

“We had to stop on him three times,” Garcia said of the gelding, who did not make his debut until June 27 this year at Santa Anita. “He is a big horse and we had to go slow with him. He had always worked well and we knew he had ability.”

Smooth Roller arrived at Keeneland Monday afternoon from Santa Anita, where Garcia has a stable of 17 horses.

Garcia never has raced a horse at Keeneland, but he has run in Kentucky in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

“I was 24 when I came to Churchill Downs in 1988,” Garcia said. “And, I was in the exacta.”

His Approved to Fly went off as the longest shot in the Juvenile Fillies (G1) at 42-1 and finished fourth, beaten less than three lengths under Hall of Famer Eddie Delahoussaye. Finishing ahead of Approved to Fly was three-fifths of the D. Wayne Lukas-trained entry of Open Mind, Darby Shuffle and Lea Lucinda.

“Everybody dreams of the Breeders’ Cup and Kentucky Derby,” Garcia said. “But you just never know with horses.”

Smooth Roller has won three of his four starts with his only setback coming in the Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 26 when he finished fourth. Prior to the race, he became fractious at the gate, unseating rider Mike Smith.

“He stumbled coming out of the gate and then he was six wide on both turns,” Garcia said of the race in which Smooth Roller was beaten only 1¼ lengths.

Despite his limited experience, Smooth Roller went off as the third choice in the Awesome Again in which he defeated last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Bayern. The victory was the first Grade 1 win for Garcia.

Tyler Baze, who has been aboard Smooth Roller in his three victories, is scheduled to come in and work the Garcia trainee next Monday.

Source: Keeneland Association