BC Turf: Starspangled Heat taking a shot

ARCADIA, Calif. – A third-place finish by Starspangled Heat in Sunday’s $81,850 Lure Stakes was good enough for trainer Barry Abrams to plan a quick turnaround to Saturday’s $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita.

Starspangled Heat was beaten seven lengths by Pure Tactics in the one-mile Lure, closing from sixth in a field of eight to nip 9-5 favorite Hay Dude at the wire for third. Abrams acknowledged that Starspangled Heat will be a longshot but said the BC Turf over 1 1/2 miles is worth a try.

“He’s not a miler,” Abrams said. “It was the perfect setup race for Saturday. Three of his five wins have been after coming back from a week or less.”

A 6-year-old gelding, Starspangled Heat has won 5 of 38 starts and earned $476,685. The Breeders’ Cup Turf will be Starspangled Heat’s first Grade 1 race. He was fourth in his last two starts, both Grade 2 races – the Del Mar Handicap over 1 3/8 miles on turf Aug. 23 and the John Henry Turf Championship here over 1 1/4 miles on turf Sept. 28.

In his career, Starspangled Heat has never run 1 1/2 miles but was third in the Grade 2 San Juan Capistrano Handicap over 1 3/4 miles on turf here in June.

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“We’ll be going against the best,” Abrams said. “He’ll be 50-1. He deserves a chance, and it’s here.”
The BC Turf has an expected field of 13 – Big John B, Brown Panther, Chicquita, Finnegans Wake, Flintshire, Hangover Kid, Hardest Core, Imagining, Magician, Main Sequence, Starspangled Heat, Telescope, and Twilight Eclipse.

Flintshire, second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 5, is the expected favorite. On Monday, Flintshire was part of a small group of European horses who jogged on the main track.

Trained by Andre Fabre, Flintshire lathered noticeably on his neck on a morning when temperatures reached the 70s.