Fight On's travels take him to Nebraska for the Bosselman Pump and Pantry/Gus Fonner Stakes

Every trainer worth his oats has a repertoire of go-to moves proven successful over a decent-sized sample. Take California-based Doug O’Neill, who has been lethal with horses moving from Meydan Racecourse in Dubai to Fonner Park in Grand Island, Neb.

“It’s been a very popular move for us,” O’Neill said, reached by phone on Monday.

O’Neill, bless his heart, was willing to play along with the joke. Fact is, Fight On almost certainly is the first horse in racing history set to start at both Meydan and Fonner in the same spring. March 7, Fight On finished a solid third in the Group 3 Mahab Al Shimaal, a sprint race at Meydan. Wednesday, he’s one of 10 entrants in the $50,000 Bosselman Pump and Pantry/Gus Fonner Stakes.

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Meydan has one of the world’s largest grandstands, a shockingly massive hulk seemingly dropped into the desert by an alien civilization. Fonner, if you squeeze folks in shoulder to shoulder, has a 5,800-spectator capacity.

Attendance Wednesday will be zero, now the standard of the coronavirus pandemic. And it’s the pandemic that has led Fight On to Nebraska. O’Neill tried Fight On in in the April 14 Oaklawn Mile, where he finished ninth less than two weeks after returning from Dubai. To O’Neill, the international travel had nothing to do with Fight On’s somewhat disappointing performance last out.

“I think maybe a misconception from horsemen in the U.S. is it takes a lot of energy out of them, but if anything, we really thought horses come back over in really good shape,” said O’Neill.

Fight On is somewhat a tweener, neither a true route horse or sprinter, and Wednesday’s race over 1 1/16 miles around three tight turns could suit him.

“He’s an average-sized, handy, sure-footed horse who should have no problem with the circumference of Fonner,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill enlisted leading local jockey Armando Martinez to pilot Fight On, who’s 4-1 on the morning line in a race that includes formidable ship-ins Pendleton and Sleepy Eyes Todd as well as top local hopes Mr. Tickle and Blue Harbor.

◗ The nominal feature on an eight-race Tuesday card is race 7, a Nebraska-bred sprint open to nonwinners of three races or $7,500 claimers. Judge On the Run is the pick to win.