Breeders' Cup winner Hootenanny ships in for turf allowance

Hootenanny will race beyond six furlongs for the first time since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in October 2014 when he runs in a no-conditions allowance Saturday at Belterra Park in Cincinnati.

Now 4, Hootenanny will face eight opponents in the one-mile turf race with a $17,600 purse. He is winless in three starts this season and will be making his first start since finishing a close fourth, with a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure, in the Grade 2 Highlander at Woodbine two months ago.

Trained by Wesley Ward, who is 4 for 8 with horses he has shipped into Belterra this summer, Hootenanny worked three times on turf at Del Mar during July and early August before traveling to Ward’s base at Keeneland, where he breezed five furlongs on dirt in a bullet 1:00.20 on Wednesday.

Jose Garcia, 3 for 8 riding for Ward this season in Kentucky, will be aboard Hootenanny for the first time. They will break from post 1.

Hootenanny’s opponents include Jac’s Fact, the 2015 Ohio-bred Horse of the Year. Winless in his last 10 starts, Jac’s Fact has raced on turf just once, finishing last of eight in a high-priced optional claimer at Churchill Downs two months ago.

The connections of Jac’s Fact chose to run in this spot rather than have the 5-year-old defend his title in Saturday’s $75,000 Buckeye Gold Cup at Thistledown.