With the big horse sidelined, Fisher brings numbers to A.P. Smithwick Steeplechase

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A suspensory injury will sideline top steeplechase horse Optimus Prime for the remainder of the year, and his absence has created a wide-open renewal of Thursday’s Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Steeplechase at Saratoga.

Optimus Prime won last year’s New York Turf Writers Cup and was preparing for a return to Saratoga for both of the Grade 1 events held at the meet before the injury, according to trainer Ricky Hendriks.

While Hendriks hopes to bring Optimus Prime back here in 2020, trainer Jack Fisher will look to continue his torrid 2019 when he sends out four the 13 horses in the Smithwick, scheduled for 2 1/16 miles over National fences.

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Fisher won his 25th steeplechase race of the year Sunday with Cite. By comparison, the second-leading trainer on the circuit, Jonathan Sheppard, has seven wins. Fisher has won the Smithwick three times, most recently in 2015.

Vosne Romanee is making his first start for Fisher, who noted that the previous trainer, Richard Newland, had only recently sent the horse to the United States. Fisher said Vosne Romanee had a rating of 150 in Europe, “which is comparable to Optimus Prime.”

“He’s got the credentials behind him,” Fisher said.

The Fisher-trained Gibralfaro won the Queen’s Cup at Charlotte in April, but was last of six in the Grade 1 Iroquois in Tennessee.

“I don’t think he liked the ground,” Fisher said. “It was really soft.”

As for Fisher’s other two in the field, Peppay Le Pugh was not as highly rated a horse in Europe as Vosne Romanee, Fisher said, and Hinterland is 11 years old and has never run at Saratoga.

Bedrock is another runner formerly based in Europe who is making his U.S. debut in the Smithwick. He was a highly rated runner in Ireland as evidenced by the fact he is the 154-pound highweight for the Smithwick. He has not run since Nov. 2.

“There’s nothing like having a run under their belt – that’s always a plus,” trainer Leslie Young said Monday as she was driving Bedrock and his training mate and stablemate Redicean, entered in Wednesday’s Jonathan Kiser Stakes, to Saratoga. “I’m really hoping that we have him as ready as we can without that.”

Young said Bedrock’s former trainer, Iain Jardine, said, “He’ll let you know when he’s ready.”

“The last couple of weeks he’s shown signs of feeling ready,” Young said. “We are giving away 10 or 12 pounds, and that’s a lot of weight to give away.”

Elizabeth Voss entered three but would need a scratch to get Portrade, the 2016 New York Turf Writers Cup winner, into the field.

Voss still has Modem, runner-up in the 2017 Smithwick and Turf Writers, and No Wunder, a jump winner on May 29 at Fair Hill.

Sheppard, a five-time Smithwick winner, has Winston C, third in a stakes at Nashville, and All the Way Jose, fifth in last year’s Smithwick, in this year’s field.

Show Court won last year’s Smithwick at odds of 14-1. He is only 1 for 9 since.

Sempre Medici and Belisarius complete the field for the Smithwick, the first of 11 races on a card that begins at 12:45 p.m.