Racing for the first time since he finished third, beaten more than 14 lengths by stablemate Jackie’s Warrior in the Oct. 14 Champagne Stakes – and starting for the first time in a two-turn race -- Midnight Bourbon led gate to wire under Joe Talamo and captured the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes by one length Saturday at Fair Grounds.
Capo Kane, the dominant 6 1/4-length winner of the $150,000 Jerome Stakes here on New Year's Day, will likely return to Aqueduct for the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 6, trainer Harold Wyner said Monday.
A certain Saturday at the start of May was foremost on Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s mind Sunday morning, a day after an attractive 1-2 finish by stablemates Life Is Good and Medina Spirit in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita.
Life Is Good, highly touted before his debut at Del Mar on Nov. 22, made it two wins in two starts by capturing this race, his first around two turns and first against winners.
Capo Kane shipped in to Aqueduct from Parx Racing, where he had won once in two starts, and led from start to finish, romping to a daylight victory in the Jerome Stakes, but in a time that produced a soft Beyer figure. Considering he won by 6 1/4 lengths, that’s a pretty big indictment of his four rivals.
Parx-based Capo Kane, a California-bred, may have taken his first steps on the Triple Crown trail Friday at Aqueduct with a front-running, 6 1/4-length victory in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct. The Jerome was the first stakes win for trainer Harold Wyner, who had previously run in 30 stakes races.
Pickin' Time will skip Friday's Jerome at Aqueduct to face nine rivals including likely favorite Mutasaabeq the following afternoon in the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park.
Jackie's Warrior, who was on track to be 2-year-old champion of 2020 before finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, had his first post-Breeders' Cup timed workout when he went a half-mile in 52.60 seconds Tuesday at Fair Grounds.
The trend the past couple of years with California-based preps for the Kentucky Derby has been for lightly raced, late-developing types to emerge, and that could continue this year during the Santa Anita meeting that begins Saturday.
Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby: Springboard Mile analysis
