Flatlined sticking with turf – for now

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After watching the turf-stakes winner Flatlined turn in a couple of eye-catching works on the main track here within a 10-day span, including a half-mile in 46.27 seconds over a somewhat dull strip on Tuesday, trainer Charles Dickey had every right to consider running him on dirt in Saturday’s Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday here.

But in the end, discretion became the better part of valor, and Dickey opted instead to keep Flatlined on turf for Saturday’s $100,000 El Prado.

“He’s been training real well. He really likes the main track down here and can run on either surface,” said Dickey. “But Keen Ice is going in the dirt race, so it looks like the turf race will be the easier spot of the two.”

A son of Flatter, Flatlined won his first-level allowance condition here last winter and became a stakes winner at Kentucky Downs during the summer, with both of those efforts coming on turf.

“We’re just trying to step him up gradually as we go along,” said Dickey. “That’s how those Flatters are. If you wait on them, they just keep getting better. He’ll get an opportunity to run on the dirt down here before this meet is over.”

The 7 1/2-furlong El Prado, for 3-year-olds and up, and the 7 1/2-furlong South Beach, for fillies and mares, are the two turf stakes on Saturday’s card, which also includes three Grade 3 dirt stakes: the Harlan’s Holiday, Rampart, and Sugar Swirl.

A small field led by Keen Ice, the third-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, will contest the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday, which serves as a prep for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 28. Todd Pletcher trains Keen Ice, and he also entered Stanford and Madefromlucky for the Harlan’s Holiday. A decision on whether to run Madefromlucky may not be made until the day of the race.

Also in the field are Grade 3 winner Awesome Slew, Hy Riverside, and Joshua’s Comprise.

The Harlan’s Holiday lost one expected starter when Laoban was retired this week by owner Mike Moreno of Southern Equine Stable. Laoban registered his only victory in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy this past summer at Saratoga.

“He came out of his last work with a little soft-tissue issue,” Moreno said. “We had a choice whether to give him three or four months off and bring him back for the last half of 2017, or to stand him with Becky Thomas in New York, and we didn’t want to miss that opportunity or the start of the next breeding season.”

The one-mile Rampart and six-furlong Sugar Swirl, both for fillies and mares, also came up with short fields when entries were drawn Wednesday.

Pletcher’s pair of Genre and Eskenformoney top the Rampart. They’ll face the Marty Wolfson duo of Inside Out and Curlin’s Approval as well as Caboclo Do Rio, Screaming Skylar, and Tormenta de Oro.

Stonetastic and Dearest will likely vie for favoritism in the Sugar Swirl, with the opposition to include Sky Gold, Winning for Sarah, You Bought Her, and Danessa Again.