Attfield likely to kick off year in Battaglia Stakes
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Morley believes the turf stakes winner Attfield is ready to make his 3-year-old debut. Morley does not believe it wise to have Attfield make his first start off a layoff also be his first start on dirt. There are no turf races Morley sees that entice him.
So, provided everything continues as is over the weekend, Morley plans to ship Attfield to Turfway Park for next Saturday’s $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial to be run over a synthetic surface. The Battaglia, entries for which were to be taken Saturday, does offer its top five finishers qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) toward the Kentucky Derby. Morley is not dreaming of the Kentucky Derby with Attfield, but he’s giving the horse a chance to potentially change his mind.
“It’s jumping two feet into a swamp that I don’t want to jump in because if he goes and wins it, I’m going to have my back against the wall that I don’t want to particularly have my back against,” Morley said Friday at Belmont Park. “However, the horse deserves a chance at this little road as it were.
“He’s ready to have a run. If there was a turf race right now, I’d probably be running him in it. There isn’t a turf race with Derby points. Do I think this is a Derby horse? No, I don’t think he’ll get 10 furlongs, but that’s something to worry about down the line. He’s ready to get his year started.”
Morley spoke shortly after Attfield worked five furlongs in 50.13 seconds in company with an unraced horse over the Belmont Park training track. It was his fifth work since he resumed training. Ricardo Santana Jr. was aboard for the move.
“Ricardo was very happy with him, says he feels bigger and stronger than he did last year, and [Attfield] has certainly come back full of energy back to the barn,” Morley said.
Attfield, a son of Vekoma, has made all three of his starts on turf, winning two including the Central Park Stakes, which he won by a half-length over Noble Dynasty, on Nov. 7.
Meanwhile, Morley is excited to run One Nine Hundred in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes on Feb. 28 at Aqueduct. One Nine Hundred, who is coming off an allowance win for which he earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure on Jan. 9, worked four furlongs in 47.00 seconds Thursday morning at Belmont, the third fastest of 70 works at the distance.
“It was a work that wasn’t as serious as last week’s work, but two weeks out I still want to keep him ticking over, and at the end of the day fast horses work fast and run fast as well,” Morley said. “We will be doing our utmost to get him to go as easy as possible next week.”
Interstatelovesong, beaten a neck by Two Bits in the Ruthless Stakes on Feb. 6, will be nominated to the $200,000 Busher Stakes going a mile Feb. 28, but Morley said he’s under no pressure to run.
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