Stewart maps path to Breeders' Cup for Seeking the Soul

West Coast shipper Pavel’s commanding victory in last Saturday’s Stephen Foster Handicap begged the question: What’s the other major local Grade 1 winner on the grounds up to?

Trainer Dallas Stewart said last November’s Clark Handicap hero, Seeking the Soul, “is doing really well” in training for a 5-year-old campaign connections hope includes a try at the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

On Monday, the Charles Fipke homebred put in his fifth workout back from a fifth-place effort in the lucrative Pegasus World Cup, stopping the clock in 49 seconds for a half mile.

“We gave him a little time off after the Pegasus to freshen him up a bit during the winter,” Stewart said. “We never really stopped training him, and he’s back working.”

Stewart intends to race Seeking the Soul at least twice, and likely three times, before the Nov. 3 Classic at Churchill Downs. He has penciled in September’s Lukas Classic (G3) as one of those starts and said we could see the bay at Saratoga before then.

Last year, Stewart ran Forever Unbridled just twice before her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

“They’re two different horses, so we’ll have to see,” he said of the mare and Seeking the Soul. “She worked hard, you know? He works hard, but not as hard as she does. He’s not lazy. She was just just excellent the whole time. He’s getting there.”

Seeking the Soul sports a record of 5-3-5 in 18 starts. Last year, he was third in the Lukas Classic, and won a Keeneland allowance in track-record time before stepping up to the Grade 1 level in the Clark.

The Wynn Las Vegas has Seeking the Soul on the board at 75-1 in its 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic odds that opened Monday.

By the way, Stewart shared that Forever Unbridled, another Charles Fipke runner, is in foal to Medaglia d’Oro after her career finale finishing fifth in the Dubai World Cup.