Stakes Tracker: Springboard Mile may draw multiple shippers
The year’s final 2019 Kentucky Derby prep will have one notable shipper in the field, and possibly two, as Remington Park’s $400,000 Springboard Mile shapes up ahead of Tuesday’s entry deadline.
The race, to be run Sunday in Oklahoma, will include Epic Dreamer, a talented looking Belmont Park maiden winner for trainer Kelly Breen. That colt, by Orb, is already on the grounds at Remington and training toward the race.
As far as any other outside challengers, the Daily Racing Form’s David Grening reported Monday that Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Mind Control will remain on the East Coast for Aqueduct’s Jerome Stakes rather than go to the Springboard Mile.
Remington may pick up a major addition in Gunmetal Gray, a Jerry Hollendorfer-trained son of Exchange Rate who ran fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Campaigned by West Point Thoroughbreds, among others, Gunmetal Gray passed on the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) and subsequently showed up on the list of Springboard Mile contenders.
Dunph, Long Range Toddy and Tobacco Road are all previous stakes winners termed probable for Sunday’s race, which pays out Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale. Greyvitos won the race a year ago when shipping from the West Coast.
Saturday's about more than Audible
Five graded stakes races are on the docket for Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where undoubtedly the headliner is Audible, who will lead the Grade 3, $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday, his local prep for the Pegasus World Cup.
Another event on the card, the Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale, could also lead to the new Pegasus turf event for top runners exiting the 1 1/8-mile grass race. Among the probables are Todd Pletcher-trained Hi Happy and Glorious Empire, both Grade 1 winners this year.
Also on the list are Shadwell Stables’ Amanaar and Qurbaan. The former most recently ran 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, though going back to August he ran second in the Arlington Million (G1). The latter has been off since third in Keeneland’s Shadwell Turf Mile (G1).
“There’s just not much for either one of them for a while, so I told both Kiaran (McLaughlin) and Chad (Brown), let’s run them both,” said Rick Nichols, vice president and general manager of Shadwell Farm.
Interestingly, Nichols said the Fort Lauderdale isn’t a Pegasus prep for Shadwell’s contenders.
“It’s a race that would probably fit Almanaar very well, but we’re just not in agreement with that concept,” Nicholls said.
Other recent developments…
Battle of Midway will face Gift Box, a newcomer to the John Sadler barn, on opening day at Santa Anita Park, with those two so far probable for the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes.
On that same Dec. 26 card, the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes looks to be attracting a deep field of 3-year-olds going seven furlongs, among them Axelrod and Copper Bullet.
We’ve updated our Pegasus World Cup page to more accurately reflect who’s probable, and which contenders at this point are merely possible to run in the Jan. 26 race at Gulfstream.