Cornucopian, brilliant last out, faces sterner test in Bango Stakes
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It took 15 months, but Cornucopian finally ran back to his brilliant debut.
That applies in the realm of Beyer Speed Figures as well as stylistically. Cornucopian won the Aristides last month at Churchill Downs and got a 103, his first triple-digit Beyer since the 101 from his first start. And, for the first sprint since his debut, Cornucopian came out of the gate running and raced on the lead. He pressed a solid pace, buried his speed rival, turned back a bid from the capable Roll On Big Joe, won geared down, and looked a lot like the horse his debut suggested he would become.
The question now: Can he do it again?
The answer comes Saturday in the Grade 3, $275,000 Bango Stakes. The morning line lists Cornucopian as the even-money favorite. Flavien Prat, aboard for the first time in the Aristides for Bob Baffert, has a return call.
The horse is no slam-dunk. Prat tapped his mount for enough speed last month to clear the outside speed and get a clean, pressing trip alongside rail-running Mad House. But in the 6 1/2-furlong Bango, Cornucopian breaks from post 2 and is drawn inside his main speed rival Harrodsburg.
Waiting to pounce will be Dr. Venkman, third last out in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and a better horse than Cornucopian has beaten.
And, finally, there is a strong prospect of a sloppy track. Cornucopian never has raced on a wet surface, nor has he worked on one, and if he clears all these hurdles, connections can start thinking about the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Dr. Venkman’s connections already know their horse is BC Sprint material. Only victorious Bentornato – who might have benefited from a front-end bias – objectively ran better last fall at Del Mar.
Dr. Venkman in the BC Sprint raced from mid-pack. He followed Imagination into the homestretch, tipped outside, and came with a powerful late surge, missing runner-up Imagination by a nose.
He did all that with a generally rail-running journey. Trainer Mark Glatt said last year that the horse disliked running along the inside. In fact, Glatt thought Dr. Venkman’s rail draw and inside run might have cost him victory a year ago at Churchill when this race was called the Kelly’s Landing.
Dr. Venkman has neither raced nor breezed on a wet track but has a favorable outside draw and, on workout video, appears to be moving well coming into this comeback start.
Built also drew favorably on the outside, and at his best could turn a clean stalking trip into a competitive performance. But his trainer, Wayne Catalano, concedes that a wet track and a lack of Lasix could keep his charge from producing a top performance.
If the track does come up wet, give Harrodsburg a long look. TimeformUS pace figures suggest he has more early speed than Cornucopian, and Harrodsburg has earned two triple-digit Beyers, both on a sloppy Churchill surface, the most recent last month.
“If the forecast is correct, that doesn’t bother me a bit,” trainer Mike Tomlinson said. “He’s bounced back really well from his last race, and he’s really maturing. When he was young, he was a real lunatic in the paddock.”
Run the Bango over a sloppy track and it’s not crazy thinking Harrodsburg could pull an upset.
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