Breeders' Cup Classic: McPeek keeping his fingers crossed with Rattle N Roll
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DEL MAR, Calif. – In Thorpedo Anna, trainer Kenny McPeek will have one of the biggest favorites on the card in the $2 million Distaff.
In Rattle N Roll, McPeek would have one of the longer shots on the board in the $7 million Classic. If he gets to run.
McPeek entered Rattle N Roll in the Classic, but as of Monday morning he was relegated to the also-eligible list. He would need one scratch to get into the field.
Rattle N Roll has only one start in a year, that being a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Lukas Classic on Sept 28. Rattle N Roll was off for a long time due to distal bone bruising, McPeek said.
Rattle N Roll, a son of Connect, is a seven-time stakes winner, including the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity as a 2-year-old. Last year, he won the Ben Ali, Pimlico Special, and Blame – all Grade 3 stakes – and was second in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster.
McPeek liked Rattle N Roll’s race in the Lukas Classic, where he was third behind Hit Show, who came back to win the Fayette Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. Rattle N Roll was entered in and scratched form the Fayette with the hopes of cracking the Classic field.
“We think he’s set for probably as good a race as he can run and I think the race is wide open,” McPeek said Monday morning. “There’s no horses that you’re shaking your shoes over, and he wants every bit of a mile and a quarter. He’s a bit of a setup horse. He needs a bigger field for that to happen.”
McPeek named Jose Ortiz to ride Rattle N Roll.
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