Bango hopes Churchill form translates in Phoenix

Were the Phoenix Stakes run Friday in Louisville, Ky., Bango clearly would be the most likely winner. The race is in Lexington and there, Bango is a morning-line favorite worth opposing.

Bango and 10 other entrants will race six furlongs at Keeneland in the Grade 2, $350,000 Phoenix, part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, its winner earning automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. None of these horses are the equal of divisional leaders like Echo Zulu, Elite Power, and Gunite, but at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Bango would put up a fight.

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He did so in June, finishing a second behind Gunite, who beat Bango by 1 3/4 lengths in the Aristides, a fair representation of the divide between Bango and the global sprint elite. Bango, a 6-year-old Congrats horse bred and owned by Tamaroak Stable and trained by Greg Foley, has won 14 races during a long, successful career, 10 of those wins coming at Churchill. Bango has victories at Ellis Park and Turfway but was unplaced in two previous Keeneland races – a slow start compromised him in the Perryville Stakes in November 2020, and Bango ran to form when fourth in the 2021 Commonwealth over a seven-furlong distance farther than ideal.

Bango had to work to win the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes on Sept. 16, and while he’s been prudently campaigned this season, it’s difficult to see him improving much upon that performance.

Manny Wah has proven Keeneland form, and though he hasn’t started since April and was in no sort of form to win a race like the Phoenix when he went to the sidelines, Manny Wah also was a 17-1 chance capturing the 2022 Phoenix by a neck. Corey Lanerie, who was closing on 5,000 winners this week, rides 7-year-old Manny Wah for trainer Wayne Catalano, who is closing on 3,000 career winners. Manny Wah’s last two works at Keeneland were five-furlong bullets, the most recent of them clocked in a sizzling 57.20 seconds.

After finishing fourth in the 2022 Phoenix, Sibelius hit a peak last winter and spring, capped by a victory in the $2 million Golden Shaheen on the Dubai World Cup card. He came nowhere near that form in two post-Dubai starts and exits a freshening following a seventh-place finish July 29 in the Bing Crosby at Del Mar. Five-year-old Sibelius, trained by Jeremiah O’Dwyer, has a win over the track and bounce-back potential at a generous 12-1 on the morning line.

Top Gunner and Necker Island have chased Bango many times at Churchill, while Gulfstream Way, running the race of his life, came close to beating him there last month. Doctor Oscar has been posting flashy speed figures beating up Canterbury competition, and his early speed might help produce a strong pace that gives late-running Hoist the Gold a chance. Nakatomi has won 3 of 4 Keeneland starts, including the Bowman Mill Stakes two falls ago, but after going 20 for 66 in graded stakes during 2021-22, his trainer, Wesley Ward, is a startling 12-0-1-5 so far during 2023.

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