Keeneland: Gentlemen's Bet to try Polytrack for first time in Phoenix Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If the end justifies the means, well, Ron Moquett will take it. Moquett is looking at the Phoenix Stakes as a way to get his stable star, Gentlemen’s Bet, to the Breeders’ Cup in the best way possible.

Gentlemen’s Bet, despite never having raced on Polytrack, is the lukewarm morning-line favorite in the 161st running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Phoenix on the opening-day Friday card at Keeneland, with a Win and You’re In ticket to the Nov. 2 BC Sprint at Santa Anita at stake.

Gentlemen’s Bet, a 4-year-old Florida-bred owned by Harry Rosenblum, has earned three straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures coming into the Phoenix, all of them in six-furlong dirt races.

“Poly is the great equalizer, and I don’t know whether he’ll like it or not,” Moquett said. “He worked on it [four] times as a 2-year-old, although you never know until they have a race on it. If he likes it, great. If he doesn’t, I just want him to get something out of this so we can move forward to the Breeders’ Cup. That’s our goal, period.”

So, there’s one more variable to add to an already tricky handicapping exercise. Keeneland oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has listed Gentlemen’s Bet as a slight 3-1 choice over Hogy (9-2), whose raw early speed and Beyers do not match those of Gentlemen’s Bet but whose will to win (11 for 19) and prowess on synthetics (5 for 10) make him a major threat among the oversubscribed field entered in this six-furlong race.

Mike Smith will be aboard Gentlemen’s Bet from post 7, while Joe Rocco Jr. has the call on Hogy for red-hot trainer Wayne Catalano from post 12.

Beyond those two, the race certainly does not lack for possibilities. The last two Phoenix winners also are in the field: Hoofit (post 9, Edgar Prado), the 2011 winner, and Sum of the Parts (post 11, Leandro Goncalves), a gate-to-wire winner last year at almost 5-1.

Others among the myriad considerations are Reload (post 3, John Velazquez), an eye-catching winner in his lone Polytrack outing last spring for Shug McGaughey; Go Blue Or Go Home (post 8, Paco Lopez), a Canadian shipper with two stakes wins this year over synthetics; and Winning Cause (post 14, Garrett Gomez), whose 3-for-3 record on the Keeneland Polytrack stands out on his 12-race r é sum é .

Fifteen are entered in the Phoenix, although only 14 can start. Console is the lone also-eligible entrant.

The Phoenix, which dates to 1853 at the old Kentucky Association track and is the oldest stakes race in America, directly precedes the Grade 1 Alcibiades as the eighth of 10 races. Post time is set for 4:49 p.m. Eastern.