Gold Coyote should like shorter trip

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Gold Coyote will return to doing what he does best on Saturday at Lone Star Park - sprinting. He will cut back from 1 1/16 miles to six furlongs for the $50,000 Carter McGregor Jr. Memorial for Texas-bred 3-year-olds and up.

Gold Coyote, a multiple stakes winner around one turn, comes off a second-place finish in a division of the $125,000 Texas Stallion Stakes on May 10.

"It was a little farther than he wanted to run," said Bret Calhoun, who trains Gold Coyote for Clarence Scharbauer Jr. "He is shortening up to a better distance for him."

Gold Coyote won two sprint stakes at Lone Star as a 2-year-old, the first a 5 1/2-furlong division of the Texas Stallion Stakes on July 7. He earned a 102 Beyer, one of the top numbers for a 2-year-old last year.

Gold Coyote came back and won the $55,000 Middleground Breeders' Cup at six furlongs, covering the distance in 1:10.20 for a 99 Beyer. His other stakes win came this past March, a nine-length score in the $50,000 Fort Bend at seven furlongs at Sam Houston Race Park.

"We'll keep him around one turn for the rest of his career. Those are kind of the plans right now," said Calhoun.

Gold Coyote has shown excellent speed in his races, but on the turnback Saturday could find himself tracking the pace. The one to catch is the stakes-placed Snuck By, who in his last start won a 4 1/2-furlong starter allowance from gate to wire at Lone Star on May 10. He breaks from post 3. Gold Coyote drew post 2, and will be ridden by Bobby Walker Jr.

"I think he'll be forwardly placed," Calhoun said of Gold Coyote. "But I think he'll be off of Snuck By.

"Snuck By is just a very fast horse, period. He's been competitive with these kind of horses before, and looks like he fits well in there also. I think they'll complement each other."

Also in the 10-horse field is defending champ Toga Too.

* Scrappy Roo, winner of the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Breeders' Cup at Sam Houston in April, will run in a $20,000 starter allowance on the undercard Saturday. Trainer John Locke said a summer goal for the horse is the Claiming Crown at Canterbury Park on Aug. 2.