Air Force Red must cooperate with his rider in Thunder Road
By setting a slow pace at a mile in October and a predictably faster tempo in a December sprint, Air Force Red won consecutive starts in turf stakes at Santa Anita in his final two appearances in 2022.
Those wins have left sky-high expectations for the 5-year-old this year in a season that begins in Saturday’s Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita. The $100,000 Thunder Road, which drew a strong field of 12, is a prep for the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile, a $500,000 turf race on March 4.
Air Force Red enters the Thunder Road in the best form of his career, and the runner to target by rival jockeys. Air Force Red is a pacesetter, leaving jockey Juan Hernandez with the responsibility of not asking too much too soon.
“I’m not going to do something crazy with him,” Hernandez said Thursday. “I’ll try to ride a smart race and hopefully he can rate. This horse likes fast fractions because he’s good, just nothing crazy.”
The pace may have seemed crazy when Air Force Red won the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course Dec. 31, including a half-mile in 43.65 seconds. Air Force Red maintained his advantage to win by 1 3/4 lengths over Lane Way, who returned to win the restricted Clockers’ Corner Stakes for turf sprinters last weekend.
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In the Thunder Road, Air Force Red will be pursued by a field that includes seven other graded stakes winners, Cabo Spirit, Hit the Road, and There Goes Harvard, to name three, and an intriguing runner in Dark Shift.
Cabo Spirit, a closer who drew the outside post, was a two-time graded stakes winner on turf against 3-year-olds last year. This is his debut against older horses.
Dark Shift won the 29-runner Royal Hunt Cup on a straightaway mile at Royal Ascot in England last June and was fifth after a troubled start in his American debut in an allowance race at Keeneland in October.
Hit the Road was last of 10 in the Hernandez Stakes in his first start in nearly 11 months, but pulled off a Thunder Road/Kilroe double in 2021.
There Goes Harvard won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on dirt last spring, but was sidelined by illness last summer. There Goes Harvard is a two-time winner on turf and will have his stakes debut on the surface in the Thunder Road.
Last Saturday, There Goes Harvard worked five furlongs in 1:00, leaving trainer Michael McCarthy encouraged.
“He finished his work with a lot of enthusiasm,” McCarthy said. “I think this is a good spot.”
Aside from Dark Shift, the Thunder Road will be the graded stakes debut for Anaconda, a 6-year-old by Pioneerof the Nile who was second in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship at six furlongs in late November.
“It looks like he wants to stretch out a bit more,” trainer Joe Sharp said. “His pedigree suggests it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Anaconda won an allowance race at a mile on turf at Laurel Park in early November from slightly off the pace.
Air Force Red, who races for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Holly Golightly, led throughout the restricted Lure Stakes at a mile on turf on Oct. 29 at Santa Anita in his last start at the distance. He was allowed to set a slow pace, which Hernandez says is unlikely to occur in the Thunder Road.
“The last time I won with him at a mile, he relaxed pretty well,” he said. “This will be a little different.”
Megahertz Stakes
With a pacesetter, a stalker, and a closer, trainer Phil D’Amato has three diverse candidates in Saturday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.
Hamwood Flier will be prominent, having set the pace in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes on Dec. 4 at Del Mar before fading to finish fourth behind Regal Glory, the champion turf female of 2022.
School Dance finished second by a head to stablemate Rhea Moon in the Grade 1 American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies on Dec. 26 after stalking the pace. School Dance won her three previous starts.
Oakhurst closed from ninth to finish fourth by a length in the American Oaks and showed a similar style on the East Coast earlier in the year.
Those three are part of a solid field of eight in the $100,000 Megahertz. Hamwood Flier is likely to face an early challenge from the Florida shipper Bay Storm, who was third in the Grade 3 Suwannee River Stakes on Dec. 31 at Gulfstream Park.
Nadette, trained by Neil Drysdale, was a stakes winner in France last year and was a fine second by 1 1/4 lengths in her American debut behind Rhea Moon in the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes at a mile on turf Oct. 29.
Nadette had a slow start in the Autumn Miss. She frequently raced from a more prominent position in France.
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