Gunite gets stretched out in Parx Dirt Mile, with eye toward Breeders' Cup
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In any other barn, it would seem a logical choice for Gunite to be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. When the same connections also have the freakishly talented filly Echo Zulu in the barn, it becomes a bit more complicated.
“I am the biggest Gunite fan there is,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Gunite and Echo Zulo for Ron Winchell. “We’ve worked Echo Zulu and Gunite against each other enough to know which one is quicker.”
So, with an eye on the $2 million BC Sprint for Echo Zulu – and the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint for Wicked Halo – Gunite will be considered for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Saturday, he’ll audition for that race when he runs in the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile on the undercard of the Pennsylvania Derby.
Gunite, a son of Gun Runner, has won 9 of 19 career starts. All of his wins – including eight stakes– have come around one turn, including his victory in the Grade 1 Forego last month at Saratoga. Gunite’s lone try around two turns came in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, where he finished fourth, four lengths behind Cody’s Wish.
“He was a very good horse last year, he’s a better horse as a 4-year-old,” Asmussen said. “He ran a very strong race in the Forego, and we’re anxious to see if he can have success at two turns.”
Gunite had dropped two decisions to Elite Power this year, including a head loss to that one in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt. Gunite turned the tables on Elite Power in the Forego by beating him to the front.
Gunite, who breaks from post 5 under Tyler Gaffalione, figures to be in front again on Saturday.
Albeit against far different company, Nimitz Class has a similar record as Gunite, having won 10 of 19 career starts. He began his 2023 campaign with four straight wins before finishing second in his three most recent starts. A Pennsylvania-bred son of Munnings, Nimitz Class comes out of a second-place finish to Buy Land and See, a six-time stakes winner, in the Storm Cat Stakes for Pennsylvania-breds on Aug. 21 at Parx.
“That was a little disappointing,” trainer Bruce Kravets said. “He got in a little bit of trouble going into the far turn, but that was a nice horse that beat him, too.”
Paco Lopez is named to ride Nimitz Class.
Dr Ardito, a New York-bred gelding by Liam’s Map, has won 7 of 10 starts, including, most recently, the restricted Evan Shipman Stakes at Saratoga. Dr. Ardito is cross-entered as a main-track-only entrant in Saturday’s $125,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes, a New York-bred stakes scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf at Aqueduct.
Trainer Chad Brown said it would be a raceday decision on where Dr Ardito would run. The horse has had his most success at one mile.
Whelen Springs has won two of his last three starts, including the Grade 3 Philip Iselin on Aug. 19 at Monmouth Park. He sandwiched two wins around a second-place finish to Proxy in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup. His last three starts have come for trainer Lindsay Schultz.
Dr B is a mare taking on the boys. Her biggest victory came in the Grade 3 Go for Wand, going a one-turn mile over a sloppy track at Aqueduct in December 2022. In her last two starts, she finished second to Echo Zulu in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss and fifth to that same filly in the Grade 1 Ballerina, both at Saratoga.
Civil War, a nose winner of a mile and 70-yard allowance on Sept. 4 at Parx, and Mish, second in the Russell Road Stakes at Charles Town last out, complete the field.
The Parx Dirt Mile goes as race 10 and is the first leg of the Philly Big 5, a 50-cent wager that requires bettors to correctly select the winner of races 10 through 14. There is a $264,764 carryover into that wager, and the entire pool must be distributed Saturday.
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