Keeneland: Sum of the Parts a ‘maybe’ for Sprint; Spring in the Air to Juvenile Fillies

Coady Photography/Keeneland

Sum of the Parts wins Friday's Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland, earning a fees-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Trainer Tom Amoss reiterated Saturday that Sum of the Parts is “only a maybe” to run back Nov. 3 at Santa Anita in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Sum of the Parts earned an expenses-paid berth in the race by virtue of his gate-to-wire triumph here Friday in the Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes, a race for which he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97.

Amoss, a Louisiana State University alumnus and fan, joked after the Phoenix that he was not inclined to try the Breeders’ Cup because Nov. 3 is the same day as the LSU-Alabama football game. But obviously he has concerns related to whether the 3-year-old colt is good enough to defeat his elders again on racing’s biggest stage. Sum of the Parts was just the second 3-year-old (after Wise Dan in 2010) to win the Phoenix since 1991.

“We’ve got time to think about it, so we’ll monitor it as we go,” Amoss said, adding that Sum of the Parts will remain in training at Keeneland as opposed to his main base at Churchill.

Meanwhile, Spring in the Air got an 83 Beyer for her victory in the Grade 1 Alcibiades on the Friday opener. That Mark Casse-trained filly earned a berth to the Nov. 2 BC Juvenile Fillies through the Win and You’re In program.

Casse said Saturday that Spring in the Air came out of the Alcibiades in great shape and would train at Churchill in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup, with a departure date for California yet to be decided.