Arrest Me Red tries synthetic for first time in Forego

Arrest Me Red hasn’t won since taking the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint in May 2022, among his five stakes victories on the turf. He has both pros and cons as he brings that back class in against a solid field, including last-out Turfway stakes winner Night Time, in Saturday night’s $125,000 Forego Stakes for older sprinters at Turfway Park.

Night Time, at 5-2, and Arrest Me Red, at 3-1, are the morning-line choices in a field of eight entries for the 6 1/2-furlong Forego. That group is expected to be reduced by at least one scratch, as Manny Wah, also a graded stakes winner, is expected to run Saturday at Aqueduct, where he is cross-entered in the Grade 3 Toboggan, trainer Will Walden told Daily Racing Form.

The biggest vulnerability for Arrest Me Red is that he has never run on a synthetic track – although he does own those five stakes wins on the turf. He vanned from trainer Wesley Ward’s Keeneland base for a bullet five-furlong work on Turfway’s Tapeta on Jan. 24.

This is the first outing for Arrest Me Red since he finished sixth in a Kentucky Downs allowance in September. He has run well fresh before, including winning the 2021 Mahony Stakes at Saratoga off an eight-month layoff and finishing a solid third in the 2022 Silks Run at Gulfstream Park off a nearly four-month break.

There is a lack of true, committed speed in the Forego, which could provide an opportunity for Arrest Me Red. Walter Rodriguez rides Arrest Me Red, who showed the way in some races early in his career before reverting to a more settled style. The lack of pace could provide initiative to explore his previous front-running style for the Ward barn, which typically turns out good gate horses. Millionaire Sir Alfred James, a stakes winner at Turfway, has pressed in in the vanguard in his better recent efforts.

Night Time has not missed the board in four starts since being claimed by William Morey at Saratoga. That includes a pair of strong efforts at Turfway, as he was beaten a nose by stakes winner Outadore in an allowance-optional claiming race before getting up to win the Holiday Cheer by a neck, showing an ability to be closer to or farther off the pace as it develops. His victory in the Holiday Cheer earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95, the top last-out number in the field.

Condemn, fifth in the Holiday Cheer after a troubled start, makes his first start as a gelding. Surly Furious and Bourbon Heist have both earned back-to-back 90 Beyers, and are both coming off creditable efforts at Turfway – but both have the strategic vulnerability of needing pace to close into.

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