Kasaqui punches ticket to Arlington Million

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Three of the four winners of the Million Preview Day stakes last Saturday are likely to return to Arlington for corresponding races on Arlington Million Day, Aug. 13.

Kasaqui, the winner of the Arlington Handicap, is likely for the Million itself, a race that became a lot more appealing to horsemen after Chad Brown said that Flintshire would race at Saratoga and not Arlington in August.

Kasaqui, a 6-year-old horse, was bred by Diane Perkins at her farm in Argentina and campaigned there for his first 14 starts. He was sent to trainer Ignacio Correas IV, whose father is close friends with Perkins in Argentina, to race in 2016 and has come around nicely the last four months. Kasaqui fell in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day but rebounded quickly with a pacesetting second in the Wise Dan at Churchill before using a strong closing kick to win the Arlington Handicap by 1 1/2 lengths over Roman Approval. Kasaqui was assigned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for the Arlington Handicap, his first stakes win.

“The Arlington Million is a dream of hers,” Correas said of Perkins, who owned and trained Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now early in his career.

Graham Motion, Better Talk Now’s trainer for most of his career, also has designs on Million Day with Faufiler, who scored her first graded stakes win in the Modesty Handicap on Saturday. Faufiler settled on the fence for jockey Jose Valdivia and finished with good energy to win the Modesty by 1 1/2 lengths. At 1 3/16 miles, the race was the longest of her career.

Faufiler is by Galileo and out of the Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Six Perfections, and with the dam’s best distance in mind, Faufiler has been kept mainly to one-mile races. But she won a stakes at 1 1/8 miles in France by five lengths late in 2014 and had no trouble staying the trip Saturday. The Grade 1 Beverly D. is run at 1 3/16 miles, and Faufiler probably will be back for it.

One Mean Man, who has looked distance-limited at times, showed that he could perform effectively over 1 1/8 miles, changing his tactics from front-runner to closer to win the American Derby. One Mean Man earned a career-best 84 Beyer and will try to get 1 1/4 miles on Million Day in the Grade 1 Secretariat. American Derby runner-up Oscar Nominated also is likely to start in the Secretariat.

Greengrassofyoming won the Stars and Stripes on Saturday in his first race since being claimed by Mike Maker for owner Michael Hui, but Greengrassofyoming is more likely for the John’s Call at Saratoga than the American St. Leger on Million Day. Maker has Da Big Hoss for the John’s Call.