Excelsior the plan for Mr. Buff

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Mr. Buff are resisting the temptation to go big-game hunting for now and will likely target the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct on April 4, trainer John Kimmel said.

Though the Haynesfield was run as a one-turn mile, Mr. Buff is 6 for 6 in 1 1/8-mile races run around two turns at Aqueduct, the configuration of the Excelsior. The six weeks between races would enable Mr. Buff to recover from Saturday’s fast race, for which he earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure, and give him his best opportunity at his first graded score.

“That’s probably where we’ll run him back,” trainer John Kimmel said Sunday.

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Mr. Buff went gate to wire in the Haynesfield, running fast early fractions and covering the mile in 1:36.22 while being geared down by Junior Alvarado.

Alvarado flew to Florida on Saturday night to work a bunch of horses and stopped by Kimmel’s barn at the Palm Meadows Training Center to talk about Saturday’s race.

“Junior said if he could run that race, he could beat Grade 1 horses,” Kimmel said. “He said ‘I had him geared down by the time we hit the wire.’ ”

Mr. Buff, a 6-year-old gelding by Friend Or Foe, has won 14 of 36 starts and earned $1,051,536 for owners/breeders Chester and Mary Broman.