Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Familiar foes back at it

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A year after the top four from the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint finished within a length of each other at Del Mar, that same foursome – plus 10 other grass sprinters – are set for another meeting in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs.

Some notable variables differ this time around. Besides a different host track, the race is longer this year, extended from five to 5 1/2 furlongs, and the turf at Churchill Downs should be softer than the firm course at Del Mar.

Several inches of rain were expected here through Thursday night, likely resulting in a drying-out but rain-saturated course on Saturday.

“I think the question for everyone is the soft turf,” said trainer Peter Miller, who starts three horses, defending champion Stormy Liberal, Richard’s Boy, and Conquest Tsunami.

One thing he need not question is Stormy Liberal’s desire to win. He took last year’s race, edging barnmate Richard’s Boy, and the photogenic gelding comes off three straight narrow victories this year. Two were by a nose, and his most recent, in the Grade 3 Eddie D at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, came by a head over another barnmate, Conquest Tsunami.

Stormy Liberal faces a competitive Turf Sprint cast that includes Disco Partner and Bucchero – stakes winners last out who were third and fourth in the BC Turf Sprint last year – and likely will need to summon all his determination again.

“As far as the condition of the horse, he is sharper than a No. 2 pencil,” Miller said.

Drayden Van Dyke returns in the irons on Stormy Liberal, a 6-year-old Stormy Atlantic gelding whose last race on a wet grass course was a second in the Al Quoz Sprint over “good” ground in Dubai.

Typical for a Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, the early pace should be hotly contested, though the condition of the turf course could slow the fractions and final time. Among those expected in the early scrum are Conquest Tsunami, World of Trouble, and Richard’s Boy, to whom Miller adds blinkers after two consecutive runner-up finishes.

Of that front-running group, World of Trouble is among the more established wet-course performers. His last two races have come over soft turf, a 1 3/4-length score in the Quick Call at Saratoga on yielding ground and then a 5 3/4-length triumph over “good” turf at Belmont in the Allied Forces on Sept. 8. The latter race earned him a 103 Beyer Speed Figure, a number ranking him among the fastest in the field.

Where World of Trouble is untested is in elite company. World of Trouble has never won a graded race, and the Turf Sprint marks his first attempt racing outside his 3-year-old age group.

“Maybe a different distance, it might matter,” trainer Jason Servis said of World of Trouble facing older horses. “I think 5 1/2, he can hold his own.”

Servis joins Miller in training three in the Turf Sprint field. His other entrants are Vision Perfect and Rainbow Heir, both with the qualifications to contend. They ran second and third in the Grade 3 Turf Monster at Parx on Sept. 3, and both have a license to run better on Saturday.

Vision Perfect, 6, won the Awad Stakes on yielding ground four years ago as a juvenile, while Rainbow Heir makes his second start following a seven-month layoff after returning from stallion duty.

Favored at 7-2 on the morning line is Disco Partner, who rallied to be third in last year’s Turf Sprint. The longer distance of this race and the approximately quarter-mile stretch at Churchill Downs play to his closing strength, though testing ground seemingly would not.

Disco Partner has won over “good” courses in New York, including his latest in the Oct. 6 Belmont Turf Sprint, but has not been as successful over soggier ground. He ran a distant third in the Shakertown and Troy stakes this year over soft turf.

Ruby Notion won the Caress over soft ground at Saratoga on July 23, outrunning Chanteline, another filly matched against males in the Turf Sprint. Her Caress victory earned Ruby Notion a competitive 100 Beyer.

One more filly, Insta Erma, could join the lineup if there is a scratch.

Just two Europeans were entered, Lost Treasure and Havana Grey, the fewest foreigners in a grass race at this Breeders’ Cup. No foreign horse has won this race since it was added to the Breeders’ Cup program in 2008.

Post time for the Turf Sprint, race 4, is 12:38 p.m. Eastern.

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