Breeders’ Cup not likely for Accelerate
After Accelerate won his first start in a graded stakes in Saturday’s $201,035 Los Alamitos Derby, thoughts turned as much to 2017 as to opportunities in the final months of this year.
“I think he can still improve,” trainer John Sadler said Sunday. “He’s undefeated around two turns and I think he’ll get better.”
Sadler said Accelerate is unlikely to start in a Breeders’ Cup race at Santa Anita on Nov. 4-5. The colt has won three of six starts, including two stakes. He won the Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on Aug. 26 in his stakes debut. In the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby, Accelerate raced wide throughout and won by a head as the 9-10 favorite over 3-1 Semper Fortis.
Races such as the BC Dirt Mile on Nov. 4 or the BC Classic do not appeal to Sadler.
“There is a not a Breeders’ Cup race for him,” he said.
For the next few months, the stakes program for 3-year-olds in Southern California stresses turf races, including the $200,000 Twilight Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. That’s doubtful for Accelerate, too.
“I don’t want to switch him to the turf,” Sadler said.
One option could be the $200,000 Zia Park Derby at 1 1/16 miles in New Mexico on Nov. 23, although that was only mentioned casually on Sunday morning. Owned by Pete and Kosta Kronis, Accelerate, by Lookin at Lucky, has earned $236,880.