Turf Veterans Musketier, Rahystrada Top Sycamore
Millionaires Musketier (GER) and Rahystrada, with a combined 10 graded stakes victories between them, head a field of seven turf marathoners entered Sunday for Thursday’s 18th running of the $100,000 Sycamore (G3) at 1 ½ miles on the grass.
The Sycamore will go as the eighth race on Thursday’s nine-race program with a 4:49 p.m. (ET) post time.
Owned by Stella Perdomo and trained by Roger Attfield, the 10-year-old Musketier has won six graded stakes at the Sycamore distance, two of them coming in the Grade 2 Elkhorn here and three in the Singspiel (G3) at Woodbine. John Velazquez has the mount Thursday on Musketier, who will break from post position six.
Musketier has compiled a career record of 49-11-7-6 for earnings of $1,129,027.
Robert Courtney Jr.’s Rahystrada, trained by Byron Hughes, has four graded stakes victories on his resume, including the 2011 Kentucky Turf Cup (G3) at Kentucky Downs at 1 ½ miles. Winner of the Arlington Handicap (G3) for a second time this summer, the 8-year-old Rahystrada finished third in the Arlington Million (G1) in August and second in this year’s renewal of the Kentucky Turf Cup.
Corey Lanerie has the mount on Rahystrada, who will break from post position one. Rahystrada’s has compiled a record of 40-13-4-8 for earnings of $1,226,950.
The main threat to the two veterans is Team Block’s Ioya Bigtime, who is two-for-two at the 1 ½-mile distance. Trained by Chris Block, Ioya Bigtime held off Rahystrada in the Kentucky Turf Cup in his most recent start and in his initial mile and a half try defeated Musketier in the Stars and Stripes (G3) in July.
Jeffrey Sanchez will ride Ioya Bigtime, who will break from post position three.
The field for the Sycamore, from the inside out, is as follows: Rahystrada (Corey Lanerie, 123 pounds), Kindergarden Kid (Julien Leparoux, 121), Ioya Bigtime (Jeffrey Sanchez, 123), Seton Hall (Calvin Borel, 121), Canaveral (GB) (Shaun Bridgmohan, 121), Musketier (GER) (John Velazquez, 123) and Miami Deco (Elvis Trujillo, 121).