Hogy targets Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although most of the Kentucky-based horses who competed in Breeders’ Cup races and undercard stakes at Del Mar are getting time off, a couple of Mike Maker-trained runners from Breeders’ Cup Saturday could reappear later this month.

Hogy, 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, is being aimed at the $125,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship on Nov. 25, while Kitten’s Roar, winner of the Grade 2 Goldikova on Saturday’s card, is targeting the Grade 1 Matriarch Nov. 26 at Del Mar.

Kitten’s Roar, an alternate for the Filly and Mare Turf who failed to draw in when the race oversubscribed, performed so well in winning the Goldikova by 2 1/4 lengths that owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey chose to withdraw the 5-year-old mare from Monday’s Fasig-Tipton November sale and continue to race her, likely into 2018, Maker said.

Maker’s other Breeders’ Cup starter, Turf entrant Bigger Picture, ran 12th.

“He broke out in some hives and whatnot” from a possible allergic reaction, Maker said. “And he’s had more hives since.”

Other Kentucky-based trainers with Breeders’ Cup horses seemed ready to put their runners away for the year.

Tim Glyshaw, trainer of Turf Sprint fourth-place finisher Bucchero and sixth-place Turf finisher Bullards Alley, said they would get 30 days off and would likely winter at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, while Finley’sluckycharm, ninth in the Filly and Mare Sprint for trainer Bret Calhoun, also is scheduled for downtime. Calhoun mentioned the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland and Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs in the spring as goals for her, with “hopefully a prep at Oaklawn” before those races.

Also bound for Oaklawn this winter is the Ron Moquett-trained Whitmore, the Sprint eighth-place finisher who won the Hot Springs and Count Fleet Sprint stakes at Oaklawn this year.

Farrell, winner of the Grade 2 Chilukki at Churchill Downs on Saturday, also could see action at Oaklawn, according to trainer Wayne Catalano.

Oaklawn has a more extensive stakes schedule for fillies and mares on dirt than Fair Grounds, where Farrell rattled off three stakes victories this year. Oaklawn’s series culminates with the Grade 1 Apple Blossom in April.