Expect big effort from In Summation

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Christophe Clement has been known to bristle at being typecast as a turf-only trainer, but the shoe fits, so he wears it. At Keeneland, where Clement ships some of his best horses from Florida or New York every spring and fall, the record books show that Clement has won eight stakes: six on turf and the remaining two on Polytrack after the races were transferred from turf because of poor weather.

There are less lucrative ways to hammer out a living, and it is with this specialized agenda that Clement has once again sent a handful of stakes-caliber turf horses to Keeneland this spring from his winter base at Payson Park. In Summation, the logical favorite in the Sunday feature, the $100,000 Shakertown Stakes, will be trying to add to the Clement legacy at Keeneland when he faces seven other older horses in the 5 1/2-furlong turf fixture.

In Summation, a Florida-bred colt owned by Waterford Stable, will be ridden by Garrett Gomez when he breaks from post 2 in the Grade 3 Shakertown, the eighth of nine races. This will be the first start of the year for In Summation, who won 5 of 6 starts and amassed $285,800 at 2, then earned nearly $163,000 at 3 despite going winless while squaring off against classy company in Southern California and other major venues.

Off a series of sharp works at Payson, including back-to-back bullet drills last month, In Summation looks primed for a big coming-out effort in his 4-year-old debut. If he can come anywhere close to duplicating the races he ran in the Grade 2 Nearctic last October at Woodbine (earning a 105 Beyer Speed Figure) or the Grade 3 Hollywood Turf Express in November (101 Beyer), he should have his Shakertown rivals at his mercy.

Maybe the strongest challengers to In Summation will be Sgt. Bert, who ran the two best races of his 36-race career in winning the last two runnings of the Woodford County Stakes (2005-06) at this same distance over this same course; Lifestyle, who enters off a sharp allowance victory over the Gulfstream Park turf course; or Shark, a royally bred Overbrook Farm 5-year-old who scored two races back over the Fair Grounds turf.

Completing the field are Hold the Salt, Congo King, Cognac Kisses, and Nth Degree.

First post Sunday is 1:15 p.m. Eastern. Keeneland goes dark Monday and Tuesday before a five-day race week resumes Wednesday.