Fury Kapcori puts streak on line in Californian

ARCADIA, Calif. – The steady rise of Fury Kapcori in California’s older-male division can continue in Saturday’s $200,000 Californian Stakes at Santa Anita.

Unbeaten in four starts this year, Fury Kapcori has gone from the winner of an optional claimer Jan. 1 to the easy winner of the Grade 3 Precisionist Stakes on May 3.

The success is not a surprise. At 2, Fury Kapcori was second in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. A knee injury detected early in his 3-year-old season limited Fury Kapcori’s campaign to the final months of 2013. This year at 4, he has more than made up for lost time.

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“It’s taken time for him to mature,” said Dan Ward, assistant to trainer and co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer. “He showed potential at 2. Now, he’s realizing that potential.”

Owned by Rick Awtrey and George Todaro, Fury Kapcori will be a strong favorite to extend his unbeaten streak in the Grade 2 Californian. The race is run over 1 1/8 miles and is a key prep race for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28.

Through his winning streak, Fury Kapcori has shown the ability to lead throughout – as he did in the Precisionist over 1 1/16 miles – or stalk the pace, a style used to win the Santana Mile on March 30. The ability to adapt to circumstances early in a race could be vital for Fury Kapcori in the Californian, which includes an expected front-runner in Storm Fighter, the winner of the Tiznow Stakes for California-breds over a mile April 26.

“He does love a battle,” Ward said of Fury Kapcori. “It’s nice that he can do both.”

The Californian will be the first start at 1 1/8 miles for Fury Kapcori since a fifth-place finish behind Will Take Charge in the Pennsylvania Derby last September.

“With his style and his breeding, I don’t think the distance will be a problem,” Ward said.

The Californian drew a field of eight, including the stakes winners Clubhouse Ride, Fly Lexis Fly, Handsome Mike, Majestic City, and Majestic Harbor, and the stakes-placed Sky Kingdom.

Clubhouse Ride won the Californian in 2013, the last year the race was run at Hollywood Park, which was closed for development in December. Clubhouse Ride was third in the Santana Mile.

Handsome Mike and Majestic City were second and third in the Precisionist but were not a threat to Fury Kapcori. Fly Lexis Fly has not raced since a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes on turf at Del Mar last summer. Trainer Peter Miller said this week that Fly Lexis Fly will need a start in the Californian and that he has the Gold Cup as an early-summer target.

Majestic Harbor won the Grade 3 Tokyo City Stakes over 1 1/2 miles here March 29. Trainer Sean McCarthy considers Majestic Harbor to be a Gold Cup candidate and said his 6-year-old horse needs a start. Later this year, there is the hope that Majestic Harbor will be good enough to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I didn’t want to sit around and wait that long,” McCarthy said. “This is a good race, and it’s stepping up in class. It’s what you have to do to find out if we’re good enough for the Breeders’ Cup.”