Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: Tyler's Tribe a go after test run on turf
Tyler’s Tribe has been untouchable in winning all five of his starts by a combined 59 3/4 lengths, all dirt sprints at Prairie Meadows in his native Iowa, including four stakes races. As he steps way up in class for the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, his connections had a decision to make. Would the gelding remain on the dirt but be forced to stretch out for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile? Or would he remain in sprint races but need to change surfaces for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint?
All systems appear to be go for the Juvenile Turf Sprint after Tyler’s Tribe tested out the Keeneland turf course for the first time last Saturday. With regular jockey Kylee Jordan aboard, the gelding cruised through three furlongs in 39.80 seconds.
“I thought he did okay on it,” trainer and co-owner Tim Martin said. “That’s about what he always works. He doesn’t work fast. He’s not a fast work horse unless you’ve got company or ask him to.”
Martin said that Jordan told him Tyler’s Tribe jumped the cones marking the work lanes on the course every time he came to them.
“But he looked good, and she said he galloped out good,” Martin said. “So I’m liking where we’re at right now.”
Tyler’s Tribe will be one of the feel-good stories of this Breeders’ Cup, as co-owner Tom Lepic named him for his 8-year-old grandson Tyler Juhl, who was undergoing treatment for leukemia. Happily, Juhl is now cancer-free. Meanwhile, his namesake is rolling into his challenge.
Tyler’s Tribe has made his two most recent starts at six furlongs on dirt, winning the Prairie Meadows Freshman by 15 1/2 lengths on Aug. 27, with a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94, and then taking the Iowa Cradle by 6 1/2 lengths on Oct. 1, with an 89 Beyer. He will be cutting back to 5 1/2 furlongs for his turf debut. Martin said he might stretch out the gelding in the future, but that he did not want to run Tyler’s Tribe long in the Breeders’ Cup without a two-turn prep under his belt, an opportunity not available at Prairie Meadows.
“I know he’s got a lot of speed, and he’s been really fast without having to ask him every time,” Martin said. “The [Juvenile], the mile and a sixteenth, I just didn’t want to run him and get tired or something without having a route race under him.”
Tyler’s Tribe does appear to have some turf breeding. He is from the first crop of Sharp Azteca, a son of dominant New York turf sire Freud, a full brother to Giant’s Causeway. Sharp Azteca is the sire of several turf winners, including stakes winner Sharp Aza Tack.
Pre-entries for all Breeders’ Cup races close on Monday. They will be announced two days later along with race preference. The Juvenile Turf Sprint, one of two Breeders’ Cup races limited to 12 starters as opposed to the standard 14, is virtually guaranteed to be among the races drawing an overflow cast.
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