Halladay could run in Shadwell Turf Mile before BC

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Halladay exited his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave Handicap in good order and will be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

The only thing trainer Todd Pletcher has to decide is when, or if, to run him before then.

The Fourstardave was Halladay’s 11th race in 14 months, so it would seem that one more race before the Breeders’ Cup is likely. The most logical spot for that race is the Grade 1, $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 3, five weeks before the Breeders’ Cup.

Pletcher said Sunday morning that “we’ll keep everything in play” but acknowledged that Halladay enjoys competing.

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“He seems to be thriving on the action, carrying his weight extremely well, we’ll see how he does,” Pletcher said.

Halladay, a 4-year-old son of War Front owned by Harrell Ventures, scored a 1 1/4-length, front-running victory over Got Stormy, the 2019 Fourstardave winner. Halladay covered the mile in 1:33.32 over turf labeled good and earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure, equaling his previous career-best Beyer earned in the Sunshine Forever stakes at Gulfstream in May.

“He was very good on the day,” Pletcher said. “After watching the replay, the first time Luis [Saez] tapped him right-handed, that’s when he went back to his left lead. He kept running, came to the wire with his legs underneath him and galloped-out really impressively.”

Halladay gave Pletcher his first Grade 1 victory of 2020. It also marked the 23rd consecutive year that Pletcher has won at least one Grade 1 stakes.

Though the mare Got Stormy got beat, trainer Mark Casse was encouraged with her performance, which was an improvement from two fourth-place finishes earlier this spring at Belmont Park. Casse is still in search of rock-hard turf that Got Stormy likes. Those conditions were taken out of the equation when .36-inch rain fell Saturday morning.

“For her to run her very best going a mile, she needs it to be really hard,” Casse said. “When it’s not it decreases the distance that she’s most effective at.”

Casse said he and owner Gary Barber are considering several races for Got Stormy including, at Kentucky Downs, the Grade 3, $500,000 Spendthrift Farm Ladies Turf Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs on Sept. 12, or the Grade 3, $700,000 Runhappy Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the same card.

The Runhappy Turf sprint is a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

Meanwhile, trainer Chad Brown was “disappointed and shocked” at the fifth-through-eighth-place finishes of his quartet of Raging Bull, Without Parole, Uni, and Valid Point.

Brown said he thought Without Parole may have been bothered by Valid Point at a crucial point of the race, but other than that he had no real excuse for the others.

Brown said that after looking at the horses Sunday morning all looked well.

“I have no choice but to draw a line through it,” Brown said. “They certainly trained well … I was as shocked as anybody. I’m going to regroup, don’t know who’s going where yet. We’ll ease them back into a work schedule, observe them real close to make sure they’re okay then we’ll point again.”