Gift Box drills for Stephen Foster Handicap

ARCADIA, Calif. – The top California-based handicap horse will head to Kentucky for his next start, as trainer John Sadler and Hronis Racing find themselves in an enviable position with a glut of top older horses.

Gift Box, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and the runner-up in the Grade 1 Gold Cup in his most recent start, worked five furlongs Sunday at Santa Anita and will start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Sadler and Kosta Hronis watched Gift Box work five furlongs in company with Higher Power at 6:30 a.m., after which they confirmed that Gift Box would ship out after Catalina Cruiser and Campaign ship in.

Catalina Cruiser won his comeback in the Grade 2 True North on Friday at Belmont Park; Campaign finished a troubled fourth in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational on Saturday at Belmont. They return home on Monday, and Gift Box will ship Tuesday.

The decision to send Gift Box to the Stephen Foster indicates how well he came out of the Gold Cup. It also makes room for Catalina Cruiser in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 20 at Del Mar. He won the race last year by nearly seven lengths.

“Catalina can go in the San Diego, [Gift Box] can go in the Foster, just moving them around,” Sadler said. “You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but [the Foster] is $600,000, and it’s a Win and You’re In [for the Breeders’ Cup Classic].”

Gift Box worked in 1:00.40 on Sunday while Sadler and Hronis watched from near the finish line. Gift Box and Gold Cup fifth-place finisher Higher Power finished on nearly even terms.

Assuming he returns from New York in top shape, Catalina Cruiser will target the San Diego on opening weekend of the Del Mar meet. “We’ll let him tell us,” Hronis said. Catalina Cruiser overcame a compromising trip to win the True North at Belmont.

Another Sadler-Hronis runner who was unable to overcome a tough trip was Campaign. He was blocked for much of the stretch in the Grade 2 Brooklyn. “He looked like McKinzie down there on the inside, with nowhere to run,” Sadler said, referring to the Metropolitan Handicap runner-up.

In addition to Gift Box, Catalina Cruiser. and Campaign, Sadler and Hronis have Cistron targeted for the Grade 1, six-furlong Bing Crosby on July 27 at Del Mar and Nolo Contesto for the Grade 3 Affirmed this Sunday at Santa Anita.