Breeders' Cup Sprint: Despite layoff, Aloha West set to defend title
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Perhaps the biggest surprise when pre-entries were released Wednesday for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint was seeing the name of Aloha West on that list. The upset winner of the 2021 Sprint at Del Mar, Aloha West has not started since winning the Kelly’s Landing on July 2 at Churchill Downs. But if all continues to go well over the next 10 days, he will be back to defend his BC Sprint title, said his trainer, Wayne Catalano, after watching his star work five furlongs in 58.77 seconds here Monday.
Aloha West was one of 18 horses pre-entered for the $2 million Sprint, to be run Nov. 5 at Keeneland, although five of those have given first preference elsewhere, leaving a field of 13 likely for the six-furlong race. The field will be headed by Jackie’s Warrior, who finished sixth as the 1-2 favorite in last year’s Sprint. He figures to be a strong choice once again, having won four of his five starts in 2022, including two Grade 1 stakes. His lone defeat this year was a second-place finish behind the Dirt Mile-bound Cody’s Wish in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga in his most recent start Aug. 27.
Aloha West did not return to the work tab after the Kelly’s Landing until Oct. 6, and it did not appear that Catalano would have enough time to have him properly prepared for the Sprint.
“We never ruled the race out, but I wasn’t really planning on running him,” Catalano said. “But then he started coming around, and I said ‘We have a little time, so let’s just see how things go.’ His work here [Monday] was great. He couldn’t blow out a match when he came back, so we’ll just see how he does up to the race. I’m under no pressure to run him. But he only really runs the last quarter and he’s a fresh horse. It can be tough to beat a fresh horse that’s doing good. Jackie’s Warrior is a heck of a horse, but they said we couldn’t beat him last year. And we did. I was confident going into this race a year ago and if he’s in there again, it means I’m confident he can win again. I wouldn’t run him if I didn’t believe that.”
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Aloha West is one of two horses Catalano pre-entered for the Sprint along with Manny Wah, who captured the Win and You’re In Phoenix at Keeneland earlier this month. Aloha West finished second in the 2021 Phoenix before his BC Sprint win. Manny Wah is one of three Breeders’ Cup Challenge winners in the lineup, along with American Theorem (Bing Crosby) and Elite Power (Vosburgh).
The field is expected to include C Z Rocket, back in the Sprint for a third consecutive year, as well as Jack Christopher, O Besos, Willy Boi, Long Range Toddy, Super Ocho, Flash of Mischief, and Kimari. Trained by Wesley Ward, the filly Kimari has the Sprint as first preference rather than the Filly and Mare Sprint.
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