Warrior's Reward Headlines Phoenix

Photo: Eclipse Sportswire

Grade 1 winner Warrior’s Reward will try to snap a three-start winless skid as he takes on ten challengers in the $175,000 Phoenix Stakes (G3) on Friday, opening day of the Keeneland Race Course fall meeting.

The four-year-old Medaglia d'Oro colt, trained by Ian Wilkes, opened the season with consecutive victories in a seven-furlong optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park and the seven-furlong Carter Handicap (G1), where he defeated highly regarded Musket Man and Munnings.

The Phoenix will be only his second start on a synthetic surface. He finished fifth of seven in the seven-furlong Perryville Stakes (G3) last fall on Keeneland’s Polytrack surface.

Warrior’s Reward enters the six-furlong race off a sixth-place finish behind Quality Road in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on May 31 at Belmont Park and a fourth-place finish behind Here Comes Ben, Musket Man, and Vineyard Haven in the Forego Stakes (G1) on September 4 at Saratoga Race Course.

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