Imperial Hint seeks Grade 1 status in Vanderbilt

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Imperial Hint’s résumé is an impressive one. But it’s still lacking a Grade 1 win, a small matter that trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. is hoping to rectify Saturday at Saratoga in the $350,000 Vanderbilt.

Imperial Hint tops a field of seven speedsters in the six- furlong Vanderbilt, including the red-hot pair of Switzerland and Done Deal, each of whom brings a four-race winning streak into the race. Petrov, Warrior’s Club, Florida invader Sweetontheladies, and Mr. Crow complete the lineup.

The Vanderbilt will be Imperial Hint’s second try at a Grade 1 win. His first came last November in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar, where he finished second behind Roy H after holding the lead through midstretch. Imperial Hint has sandwiched a pair of wins around a sixth-place finish as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day, a seven-furlong race decided over a sloppy track.

Imperial Hint bounced back from that performance to win the Grade 2 True North five weeks later at Belmont Park.

“He went into the race at Churchill doing fantastic, but the track and distance played against him that day,” said Carvajal. “But he came back in the True North and ran the way we expected him to run in Kentucky. He lost a few days of training due to a tender foot earlier this month, but came back and worked good last week, and we’re bringing a horse over there who is fit and ready to run his best. Now all we need is a little racing luck.”

Carvajal said he’ll leave the strategy up to his regular rider Javier Castellano on Saturday.

“Javier knows the track well and knows this horse well,” said Carvajal.

“We know Switzerland likes to run on the front end, and I don’t think we’re going to give him too much breathing room over a track that seems to be favoring speed thus far.”

Switzerland has been on or near the lead in all four races during his winning streak, the last three coming since he was transferred to trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn earlier this season. His last outing was his best yet, a 3 1/2-length decision over Long Haul Bay on a sloppy track in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint at Pimlico, in which he earned a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure. Switzerland drew the rail and will receive a five-pound break in weights from 124-pound highweight Imperial Hint.

“This is a great opportunity for us, a Grade 1 race with a horse who is obviously fast and training well,” said Asmussen, “although I would have preferred him not to have drawn the 1 post.”

Done Deal has won his last four starts by a combined 19 lengths, a streak spread over a 20-month period dating to the summer of 2016. He’ll be wheeling back in only 22 days off a four-length triumph in the Iowa Sprint Handicap at Prairie Meadows.

If there is a wet track and an honest pace, that could benefit Warrior’s Club, who finished second, four lengths in front of Imperial Hint, in the Churchill Downs Stakes. He also owns a win over the track, having captured a high-priced optional-claiming race here last summer.