Irideo looking to break through with another win in Wickerr
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The only win Irideo has recorded in his American career was a 31-1 surprise in the Wickerr Handicap at a mile on turf at Del Mar last July.
Since then, Irideo has finished second in three graded stakes, including a half-length loss in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 29 that left trainer Marcelo Polanco wondering what could have happened with a slightly better trip.
“He was close,” Polanco said. “Probably, he might have won.”
Because he lost, Irideo is eligible for Sunday’s $100,000 Wickerr, which is restricted to horses who have not won a stakes worth $50,000 or more to the winner, other than statebred races, since Sept. 1.
Even with that condition, the Wickerr has drawn a field that more closely resembles a graded stakes.
The field consists of six graded or group stakes winners in Du Jour, Evening Sun, Hit the Road, Irideo, Restrainedvengence, and Whatmakessammyrun; the lesser stakes winners Cathkin Peak, Flavius, and I’m a Gambler; the stakes-placed Cash Equity, Salesman, and Time to Party; and Count of Amazonia and Lamplighter Jack, who have been unsuccessful in limited appearances in stakes.
Irideo, a Group 1 winner in Argentina in 2020, will have a new rider in Abel Cedillo, who has worked the 7-year-old in recent weeks. Cedillo replaces Hector Berrios, who was aboard Irideo for the 2022 Wickerr, and the Shoemaker Mile in May, but has taken the mount on Evening Sun, who has not raced since a win in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on turf at Golden Gate Fields in April 2022.
The Wickerr Stakes will be the second start in the United States for the recent French import Salesman, who was ninth in the Shoemaker in his first start since a second in a minor stakes in France in June 2022.
Trained by Richard Mandella, Salesman broke slowly and raced wide in the Shoemaker, finishing ninth by 6 1/4 lengths.
“I hoped to see a little more and I hope to see more this time,” Mandella said. “I wish I had an easier spot to go to.”
With a better start, Salesman is likely to have a forward position in the Wickerr.
“I’d like to see him into the race a little more,” Mandella said.
Cash Equity, a winner of two of his last three starts, and Cathkin Peak, unraced since a second in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita last October, start for trainer Phil D’Amato.
Cash Equity was stakes-placed in France in 2021, but has had no success in four starts in graded stakes in this country. He won an allowance race at a mile on turf in which he was entered for an $80,000 optional-claiming price at Santa Anita June 4.
Cathkin Peak is starting in the Wickerr as a prep for the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Sept. 2.
“I think it’s a good race to start him back,” D’Amato said. “Let’s see how fit I’ve got him. I’m sure second race off the bench will be his prime.”
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