Holy Bull nominees revealed, with a sleeper looming
?q=100)
Nominations have been released for the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, the first major Kentucky Derby prep held locally each winter, to be contested at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 31.
A total of 21 3-year-olds have been made eligible for the race, a group headed by the very impressive allowance winner Nearly for trainer Todd Pletcher. Other potential contenders include the Riley Mott-conditioned Incredibolt, who captured he Grade 3 Street Sense at Churchill Downs in one-sided fashion in his juvenile finale.
Among the horses on the nomination list who might be flying a bit under the radar is Global Aviator, who overcame a poor start and wide trip to capture his one and only previous start by a neck over the heavily favored Treptow on Nov. 29 at Gulfstream. Global Aviator earned a solid 85 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance despite the eventful trip.
Global Aviator is trained by Rohan Crichton, who resisted the temptation of running Global Aviator back in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man on Jan. 4 to await the Holy Bull instead.
“This horse has really developed over the past couple of months,” Crichton said. “Even as late as October, I couldn’t have predicted he would be where he’s at right now, but he’s just been on the right trajectory ever since. I skipped the Mucho Macho Man because I wanted to give him plenty of chance to recover from his first start, which looked like it was going to be a disaster after the way he broke.”
Crichton has prepared Global Aviator to go two turns ever since his maiden win. On Saturday, Crichton breezed the son of Global Campaign five furlongs in 59.23 seconds, after which he galloped out a long way over a bit of a demanding track, going six furlongs in 1:12.27 before pulling up seven panels in 1:26.34. Joe Bravo, who rode Global Aviator in his only previous start, was also aboard for the work.
“I loved the way he finished and galloped out. His body language is just so different. He appears so much more confident since his first start,” Crichton acknowledged. “I’m going to bring him back to the gate and breeze him an easy half-mile next Saturday to give him the mental confidence to hopefully break better in his second start.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.