Eikleberry has options for Sayucan's next start
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Sayucan keeps stepping up her game as evidenced by her runner-up finish in the $225,000 Iowa Oaks earlier this month at Prairie Meadows. She set the pace and was just caught on the wire by a quality foe in Quickick.
Sayucan’s effort came one start after she romped by 12 lengths in an Iowa-bred sprint stakes at her base of Prairie Meadows. The Iowa Oaks was a somewhat rare two-turn start for Sayucan.
“She’ll run long or short,” trainer Kevin Eikleberry said. “She’s got a lot of speed and she carried it very well the other night. So, we were very pleased with the race she ran.
“This filly had run [two turns] on the grass and handled the distance very well. She’s always acted like, being out of a Kitten’s Joy mare, that she would route and she ran a good race.”
Eikleberry said the two remaining stakes options at Prairie Meadows for Sayucan are the $75,000 Hawkeyes Handicap in which she would face older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles Aug. 8 and the $100,000 Iowa Breeders’ Oaks at a mile and 70 yards Sept. 27.
He said other stakes options include the $200,000 Audubon Oaks at seven furlongs Aug. 10 at Ellis Park, and sprint and route stakes at Kentucky Downs.
Sayucan races for Richard Perkins.
◗ Itsmybirthday, who ran second in the Iowa Derby, is being pointed for the Canadian Derby, according to trainer Robertino Diodoro. The $200,000 race is set for Aug. 23 at Century Mile.
Itsmybirthday hooked a comebacking Magnitude in the Iowa Derby, finishing nine lengths behind that one with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. It was one point below his career-best number of 92, earned for a runner-up finish in the Texas Derby in May.
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