Classic Causeway returns to dirt for marathon Temperence Hill

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The 1 1/2-mile distance of the $200,000 Temperence Hill on Friday at Oaklawn Park has brought together an eclectic mix of runners that includes Grade 1 winner Classic Causeway, Grade 2 winner Double Crown, and marathon specialist Strong Tide.

The field has further depth in the graded stakes-placed Speed Bias and Red Run and the up-and-coming O P Firecracker and Game Keeper.

“It’s kind of an interesting race,” said trainer Kenny McPeek, who will saddle supplemental entries Classic Causeway and multiple stakes winner Hayes Strike

The Temperence Hill is for 4-year-olds and up and highlights a 10-race card. A field of 13 was entered, but Ethereal Road will scratch in favor of a Saturday allowance at Oaklawn, trainer Ron Moquett said Monday.

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Classic Causeway won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles on turf in 2022. But he’s also a Grade 2 winner on dirt and invades off a bullet five-eighths work in 1:00.40 on March 19 at Fair Grounds. Classic Causeway is making his first start since August.

“He’s a horse that’s very talented and he’s run well at Oaklawn,” McPeek said Monday from Fair Grounds. “We were getting him ready here this winter. I’m going to give him a shot in that race. I think we’ve done a pretty good job getting him about as fit as we can for a race like this.”

Hayes Strike is testing the marathon waters after running second in a Fair Grounds off-the-turf allowance going a mile and 70 yards March 9.

“He’s never been tried at this distance,” McPeek said. “He’s definitely a route horse. The longer the better, I think.”

David Cohen has the mount on Hayes Strike and Brian Hernandez Jr. will ride Classic Causeway.

Ramon Vazquez, who won the 2022 Temperence Hill on Lone Rock, will be aboard O P Firecracker. The horse is moving back to a marathon distance Friday.

“I ran him once a mile and a half on the grass at Keeneland, and he ran very good,” said trainer Robbie Medina. “He’s kind of just a grinder. I ran him a mile and a quarter at Churchill, and he ran very well on the dirt. I brought him here with this race kind of earmarked.”

O P Firecracker enters off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Razorback, a 1 1/16-mile race Feb. 24.

“He’s kind of a horse that going a mile and a sixteenth, you kind of have to move early with him, because he can’t go when they go,” Medina said. “His races going a mile and an eighth and farther are always better.

“This race, on paper, it looks like there is some speed in there. So, I think if he gets in the right kind of flow of the race, he’s a horse the distance is definitely not going to be a problem.”

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas likes the added ground for Game Keeper.

“That’s no problem for him,” he said. “He stands 17.2 [hands] and he’ll just get into a high lope and he’ll lope around there a mile and a half.”

Speed Bias was a close second in last year’s Pimlico Special and Red Run was third in last year’s Brooklyn.

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