Extra Anejo returns, still trying to fulfill early promise

You won’t find too many dirt stakes these days with the depth and breadth of the featured seventh race Thursday at Churchill Downs. The race, for third-level allowance horses or $100,000 claimers, is carded for seven furlongs and drew 10 entrants. Among them are six stakes winners and two graded stakes winners. Two horses drop down from the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes, another from the Grade 2 Alysheba. This is what a $141,000 purse can get you.

The most noteworthy member of the field, Extra Anejo, is not a stakes winner, nor has he raced anytime recently. He makes his first start since a fourth-place finish July 22 in the Haskell Invitational. The clock is ticking on Extra Anejo’s chance to fulfill the vast potential he showed at the start of his career.

By Into Mischief, Extra Anejo was purchased at a yearling auction by Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds for $1.35 million. His debut in October 2022 lived up to the price tag. Extra Anejo won a Keeneland maiden race by 9 1/2 lengths while appearing barely to draw a deep breath. The official chart comment says it all: “Galloped.” So impressive was the performance that Extra Anejo was the lowest-price individual entrant in Pool 1 of the 2023 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

Extra Anejo did race on Derby Day 2023 at Churchill Downs, but he ran in a first-level allowance, his first start since Keeneland. The colt had a bone chip in a hind ankle surgically removed over the winter – and he lost as an 11-10 favorite.

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His second start of 2023, this time at Ellis Park, went much better, Extra Anejo romping by more than six lengths with a 94 Beyer. That earned him his shot in the Haskell, where Extra Anejo finished a solid fourth behind three very good horses.

Extra Anejo began racetrack training early in the winter and hit the work tab Feb. 27 at Fair Grounds. He has logged a dozen breezes, video of several of them available online. It’s a mixed bag. Extra Anejo still has that classic look, though in every work, he switched to the wrong lead a few strides before the wire.

On May 6, he was outworked by Disarm, who is headed to the Grade 1 Stephen Foster. Breezing solo on May 13, Extra Anejo wandered about the track as he finished up, his head craned toward the grandstand. He was more professional working outside the thrice-started maiden Stronsino on May 20 while never leaving his company behind.

Make what you will of the works, but Extra Anejo is a bad bet Thursday, even if he turns out to be an excellent horse. He’s 7-2 on the morning line, probably wants more distance, and faces strong opposition.

Scotland was a disappointing third in an allowance May 2 coming back from an extended layoff, but he should improve and hit a level at least as high as Extra Anejo’s last year at age 3.

Oscar Eclipse showed all manner of positive signs over the winter before running flat May 4 in the Knicks Go. He’ll do better. Call Me Fast, fifth in the two-turn Alysheba, won’t mind cutting back to this extended sprint.

Another 4-year-old, Raise Cain, rounded back into form with an encouraging fourth in the Churchill Downs following a Keeneland comeback race where he struggled. He’s never shown the flash of an Extra Anejo, but seven furlongs is his trip, his price will be fair, and he’s the pick in this stakes-class allowance.

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