Drury, others must decide between Lukas Classic or Ack Ack
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – They don’t enter for the final two stakes of the September meet at Churchill Downs until Wednesday, so Tommy Drury is giving himself a little more time to think about which Grade 3 race is next for Sprawl.
Either the $400,000 Lukas Classic or the $300,000 Ack Ack next Saturday represent a logical next spot for Sprawl, the resurgent 4-year-old who earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the West Virginia Governor’s on Aug. 7 at Mountaineer Park in his latest start.
“We’re considering one or the other,” Drury said. “We’re just waiting to see who’s doing what.”
Drury isn’t the only trainer trying to decide which of the two spots will best suit his horse. A remarkable 15 horses are cross-nominated in both the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic, which got 24 nominations, and the one-mile Ack Ack (29).
One major factor in play for everybody: Knicks Go, a romping last-out winner of the Grade 1 Whitney, is using the Lukas as his final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. A short field is very likely, with Tacitus, an earner of more than $3.7 million, being the only other confirmed Lukas starter at this early juncture. Tacitus, a 5-year-old Juddmonte homebred, has been working regularly in recent weeks at Saratoga for trainer Bill Mott in preparing for his first start since a distant seventh-place finish in the Saudi Cup on Feb. 20.
“That’s the thing about making this decision,” Drury said. “One race obviously looks tougher than the other, but if you go in the Lukas, you’re in a short field.”
Sprawl, bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, has come to hand nicely since Drury assumed his care over the winter. He won a Churchill allowance in May by 7 1/4 lengths, getting a 97 Beyer, then was third in back-to-back Churchill stakes prior to his Mountaineer win.
“He’s a pretty straightforward kind of horse, easy to deal with,” Drury said. “It wasn’t like we really had to turn the screws too much to get him to run that big race in West Virginia since he’d already had plenty of racing. We really haven’t changed much at all with him. He just enjoys his job and everything seems to be good with him.”
The Lukas and Ack Ack will be run on the penultimate card of a 12-day, dirt-only meet that runs through next Sunday. One other remaining stakes, the inaugural running of the $160,000 Seneca for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles, is set for Friday.