Interpol makes graded stakes debut in Nijinsky

Interpol has won two of his three starts in 2015 and is set to test graded stakes waters for the first time in Sunday’s Grade 2 Nijinsky Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Interpol has worked his way through his conditions by winning three of his last four starts, and although he could still be eligible for a third-level allowance condition, trainer Sid Attard felt the timing was right to let Interpol prove himself against stakes company.

“We’d like to run through his next condition, but you’re not going to find a race,” he said. “Even if there is a race, it’s probably not going to go. The owner told me to give him his shot, so why not?”

Attard said he was pleased with Interpol’s latest win, a 3 1/4-length score in an open, second-level allowance over 1 1/8 miles on turf June 21.

“I was really happy with the way he ran,” he said. “When he went to the lead in the race before, I was kind of mad because I don’t want him to go to the lead like that. This horse is funny. If the race is a mile and a quarter, you can send him to the lead and he’ll keep going. But if the race is a mile and an eighth, you have to take him back a little bit.”

Attard said Interpol has been training well since his last start and completed his preparation for the Nijinsky with a six-furlong breeze in 1:13.00 on the turf training track here Sunday. Jockey Jesse Campbell was aboard for the work.

“I asked Jesse to make him work at the end,” Attard said. “When Jesse asked him, he took off. He galloped out well, and he cooled off well and everything.”