Double Touch fresh for City of Hope Mile

ARCADIA, Calif. – Double Touch won the restricted Wickerr Stakes in a 29-1 surprise at Del Mar on July 22, retaining the victory after a lengthy stewards’ inquiry involving a roughly run final furlong.

The Wickerr was trainer Dan Blacker’s first stakes win. The 36-year-old Blacker can win his first graded stakes if Double Touch prevails in Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita.

The $200,000 City of Hope Mile is designed to be California’s prep for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3. Blacker, for one, is not thinking that way – at least not yet.

“I’m going to see how he runs on the weekend before I start going crazy,” he said on Wednesday.

Double Touch was briefly out of training following the Wickerr Stakes.

“He had some minor little niggling issues during Del Mar,” Blacker said. “He’s doing much better.”

Gary Stevens rode Double Touch in the Wickerr but is booked to ride Sharp Samurai in the City of Hope Mile. Alonso Quinonez will have the mount on Double Touch, a 4-year-old gelding who has won 4 of 13 starts, all in the United Kingdom and California.

This will be Double Touch’s fourth race this year.

“He runs well fresh,” Blacker said. “He’s coming off a little break now. He loves running down the hill, but his best distance is a mile and no further.”

Aside from Sharp Samurai, the other expected starters in the City of Hope Mile are Fly to Mars, Le Ken, Mithqaal, Ohio, Psycho Sister, and White Flag.

The City of Hope Mile is one of three stakes on Saturday’s card with Breeders’ Cup implications.

The two leading sprinters in California – Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017, and Ransom the Moon – start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs. Ransom the Moon and Roy H were first and second in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in July.

The winner receives a fees-paid berth in the BC Sprint on Nov. 3, although Ransom the Moon secured a spot with the Bing Crosby win.

The winner of the $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-olds at five furlongs on turf will receive a fees-paid berth in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 2.