War Dancer Tests Out Arlington Turf

Diamond M Stable’s War Dancer worked got his first taste of the Arlington International Racecourse turf on Sunday morning, working a leisurely five furlongs in 1:06.80 for trainer Kenny McPeek.  The son of War Front had veteran jockey Chris Emigh in the irons and is preparing for a run in either the Grade III $200,000 Arlington Handicap at 1¼ miles or the Grade III $150,000 Stars and Stripes at 1½ miles on the same July 12 Million Preview Day card.

While no decision has been made on which race the multiple graded stakes winner will compete, it is certain that competing in either will result in ample support at the windows and probably favoritism in the Stars and Stripes.  A winner last out in the Grade III Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs, he also annexed the Grade II Virginia Derby last year over Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s recent Belmont Gold Cup winner Charming Kitten.

Speaking of the Ramseys, in 2013 their Dark Cove - who won the Louisville Handicap before coming to Arlington - debated between the Arlington Handicap and Stars and Stripes before ultimately choosing and convincingly winning the latter.

This year the Stars and Stripes looks to once again be a similar field to the Louisville, as Team Block’s runner-up Suntracer is set to compete, as well as Skychai Racing, Sand Dollar Stable and Terry Raymond’s Moro Tap, who finished third.  Others possible for the race include John Royer’s Dad Are We Here and  Rhonda Thurman and J.C. McCleary’s Bubba’s Big Show.

If War Dancer competes in the Arlington Handicap, he will most likely face the Ramsey’s Admiral Kitten, Team Valor’s Infinite Magic and possibly Lothenbach Stable’s Mister Marti Gras.  Admiral Kitten took the Grade I Secretariat at the course and distance of the Arlington Handicap last year as a sophomore, but has yet to return to that level of performance in 2014.

Inifinite Magic has raced sparsely since the best performance of his career, a win in last year’s Grade III American Derby, in which he bested Admiral Kitten.  Mister Marti Gras exits a convincing allowance score over the local lawn, which followed a respectable runner-up finish in the Grade III Hanshin Cup over a flat Polytrack mile on May 24.

On the fence for the Arlington Handicap include Donegal Stable’s Dale Romans-trained Finnegans Wake, who was a very good fourth in last year’s Grade I Arlington Million, as well as Jon and Sarah Kelly’s multiple graded stakes performer Chamois from the always dangerous barn of Christophe Clement.