Distance won't be an issue for Brion's pair in Allen Jerkens Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Keri Brion isn’t necessarily promising either of her two entrants, Agitare and Pleasecallmeback, will win Saturday’s two-mile Allen Jerkens Handicap, but she does promise one thing.

“After galloping miles and miles uphill at Fair Hill, neither of these horses will get tired going two miles, I can promise you that,” Brion said by phone from Ireland on Thursday.

The Allen Jerkens will share top billing on Saturday’s 10-race program at Gulfstream Park with the 1 3/8-mile Via Borghese. Both races are carded on the turf and offer a purse of $100,000.

Agitare is already a proven commodity at the distance, having won the John Forbes Memorial going two miles over a soft course at Far Hills when making his U.S. debut Oct. 15. Agitare had been Group 3-placed at 1 3/4 miles last spring in his native Ireland.

“He was bought to be a steeplechase horse, but jumping hasn’t come very naturally for him,” Brion said. “He had some decent flat form in Ireland, so we decided to give him a chance in the John Forbes and even though he was keen early, he wound up being very impressive going the two miles. Finding two-mile races isn’t easy, so naturally we pointed him to the Jerkens after that effort.”

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Brion acknowledged there will be some differences for Agitare on Saturday.

“There was no starting gate at Far Hills, and this is much more of a flat track with sharper turns,” Brion said. “The John Forbes was more of a stamina test because they finished up hill, though, which could be an advantage for him coming here.”

Pleasecallmeback returns to the flat for the first time since winning an optional-claiming and starter-allowance race by 4 1/4 lengths traveling 1 3/4 miles at Woodbine in October 2021. All seven of his starts this year have come over jumps, with Pleasecallmeback having two victories and two seconds to show for those efforts.

“He’s an interesting one,” Brion said. “Obviously, he’s got previous good flat form. We got him to be a jumper. I can’t say he loves jumping, he’s just naturally talented and this is an interesting spot for him if he can run back to his flat form in Canada. He’s been training extremely well, and, like Agitare, he’s going to have a fitness advantage none of the others in this race should have training at Fair Hill.”

Basso, a distant second in the John Forbes but drawn on the also-eligible list for the Jerkens, Oceans Map, and Kinenos are the only other members of the field with any previous experience going two miles. Other key contenders should include Value Engineering and the graded stakes winner Another Mystery.

Via Borghese

Beside Herself, a disappointing eighth in the Grade 3 Dowager at Keeneland in her last start, will try to make amends when taking on seven rivals in the Via Borghese.

Beside Herself, one of three 3-year-olds in the lineup, got involved in a pace duel with Flying Fortress in the 12-furlong Dowager, fading badly down the stretch to finish a dozen lengths behind race winner Temple City Terror as the 3-2 favorite. Trainer Todd Pletcher will take the blinkers off Beside Herself on Saturday.

Flying Fortress also is in the lineup for the Via Borghese along with stablemate Good American, who makes her U.S. debut in the race.

The remainder of the field includes key players Viburnum and Lisheen along with Champagne Ivy, Treasure of War, and Starship Mallomar.

Short turf sprints moved

There will be no five-furlong turf races carded at Gulfstream beginning with the start of the Championship meet on Dec. 26, track officials announced Thursday. The decision was made to protect the turf course, which re-opened Dec. 1 after undergoing extensive renovations beginning in mid-June.

“All five-furlong turf races will move to the Tapeta” with the start of the Championship meet, said Stephen Screnci, president of racing for 1/ST Racing and Gaming. “We won’t move any of the stakes. We’re just trying to be conservative for the time being, so we can utilize the course as planned at least through Belmont Stakes weekend.”

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