Course-lover Snapper Sinclair dangerous in second TVG division

Snapper Sinclair makes his annual Kentucky Downs appearance on Wednesday, and if history is any guide, he will make his presence felt.

In 2018, Snapper Sinclair earned about $202,000 winning the Juvenile Stakes over the Kentucky Downs course. In 2019, he finished with a flourish to earn the $434,600 first prize in the Tourist Mile, and late last summer, back in the Tourist Mile, Snapper rallied determinedly to finish second behind Flavius, earning a cool $144,000.

“He’s the poster child for Kentucky Downs,” said owner Jeff Bloom. “When you watch him walk into the paddock, he’s almost like a different horse. It’s his happy place.”

The Tourist is an open race and Flavius is a serious graded-stakes class turf miler.

Wednesday, Snapper Sinclair starts in race 9, the second division of the TVG Stakes, which attracted so many entrants it was split in two. Both divisions are worth $400,000, a mighty purse for a race restricted to horses who haven’t won a stakes race during 2021. It’s a step down in class from the Tourist -- this year called the Mint Million -- and Snapper Sinclair should be awfully salty.

Snapper Sinclair, a 6-year-old City Zip horse trained by Steve Asmussen, last raced April 29 at Churchill, finishing second in the Opening Verse Stakes behind Set Piece, the Juddmonte Farms runner who has developed into a top 10 middle-distance turf horse in North America this season. That race came about one month after Snapper Sinclair suffered through a terrible trip while finishing fourth in the Godolphin Mile in Dubai.

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“He just runs so well fresh, I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t run well,” Bloom said. “He’s in form. Our expectations are high.”

Not so high: Snapper Sinclair’s win odds. He was 2-1 when he won at Kentucky Downs as a 2-year-old but won his 2019 Tourist as a 10-1 shot and was 7-1 last year. Under Julien Leparoux, he could be favored in the one-mile and 70-yard second division of the TVG.

Mr Dumas figures to be much lower than his 15-1 morning-line odds and could give Snapper Sinclair a real challenge. The lightly raced 5-year-old, a graded turf-stakes winner during his 15-start career, had been off since October when he returned to racing July 26 in the $150,000 Buckland Stakes at Colonial Downs.

John Ortiz, who trained Mr Dumas earlier in his career and got him back for the horse’s 2021 campaign, said before the Buckland that Mr Dumas was training as well as he ever had and was ready for his comeback run. But after setting a strong pace, Mr Dumas tired through the final furlong and finished fifth, a respectable showing in a 1 1/8-mile race that should have him set for a strong performance Wednesday.

Forty Under is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for trainer Mike Maker, jockey Tyler Gaffalione, and owner Three Diamonds Farm in the first division of the TVG, race 8, and his favoritism might be justifiable. One of the better turf-route 2-year-olds of 2018, Forty Under had a couple fallow years before returning this summer from a long break and a trainer change to Maker. Forty Under ran well in defeat getting back to action in a second-level Churchill Downs allowance race in June and wired a nine-furlong Saratoga allowance Aug. 6. The gelding, by Uncle Mo, has good tactical pace and could benefit from cutting back in trip Wednesday.

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The shorter distance is a question Kentucky Ghost must answer. Kentucky Ghost comes off a troubled, close second in the 1 1/8-mile Buckland, a race he could easily have won.

“He got stopped not once, not twice, but maybe three or four times,” said trainer Vicki Oliver.

Kentucky Ghost was gelded before his 2021 season and has made strong progress this year, running well in all five of his starts. He fits the spot and can win even if he’d prefer a longer trip.

“I think he’s a true mile-and-an-eighth horse, but that course lends to being able to close going a mile.”

Brown Storm and Tut’s Revenge should supply the pace in the TVG’s first division. In Love and South Bend also rate a win chance in a contentious contest.