Kasaqui targeting Arlington Handicap repeat
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Kasaqui, a sharp winner of the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes on Saturday night at Churchill Downs, is likely to make his next start July 8 at Arlington in the Arlington Handicap.
Trainer Ignacio Correas, who has strings at Arlington and Keeneland this summer, said Kasaqui appeared to have come out of his Wise Dan win in good shape, but that he would know more later this week. After he races, Kasaqui spends four or five days at Greenfield Farm near Lexington, Ky. Kasaqui is due to return to Correas’s barn at Keeneland on Friday.
“That’s my intention, to run in the Arlington Handicap,” Correas said. “If he looks like he did when he left for the farm, I think we’ll do both races.”
By both races, Correas means the Arlington Handicap and the Arlington Million on Aug. 13. Last year, Kasaqui won the Handicap and finished second by a neck to Mondialiste in the Million.
Kasaqui, a 7-year-old Argentine-bred, ran one of his best races in the Wise Dan, which he won by almost three lengths after making a strong run to the lead before the quarter pole. He equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure, a 102, while posting his first win since the Arlington Handicap last year.
Kasaqui had run well enough to win the Tampa Bay Stakes and the Mervin Muniz Memorial earlier this year – he finished second in both – but lacked the good fortune he found Saturday.
“In turf racing, so much is about the trip,” said Correas. “Everything went his way this time.”
Correas said he also plans to send a second horse for Million Preview Day, another Argentine import named Dona Bruja. The 5-year-old mare, a Group 1 winner in South America, made her U.S. debut June 10 in the Mint Julep Handicap and won it impressively, beating the sharp mare Believe in Bertie by 1 1/2 lengths and, like Kasaqui, earning a 102 Beyer. Dona Bruja will start here July 8 in the Modesty Handicap as her connections eye the Grade 1 Beverly D. on Aug. 13.
Probably the best horse Correas currently stables at Arlington is the twice-started 3-year-old Malraux, who won a May 10 off-the-turf Arlington maiden sprint by nearly 10 lengths. Correas said he passed on a first-level allowance this week in order to give Malraux a little more time between starts, and that he is pointing Malraux to the $100,000 Quick Call Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf Aug. 9 at Saratoga.