Last Samurai targets Breeders' Cup Classic

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Last Samurai has run his best races to date at distances of 1 1/8 miles and 1 1/2 miles. So, perhaps, 1 1/4 miles might hit him right between the eyeballs come the first Saturday in November.

“That would be terrific,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “We’d like to be in the Breeders’ Cup Classic with him.”

The 1 1/4 miles championship race will be held Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

Last Samurai won the biggest race of his young career Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap. He covered the 1 1/8 miles distance in 1:49.32 and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 102.

“He came out great,” Stewart said Sunday. “We’re very proud of him. It was a goal of ours to hopefully make this race going into the season and it was just wonderful to see him cap it off. It was a great win for the Horton Family. The horse just did terrific. I’m so proud of him.”

:: Want to start playing with a $510 bankroll and have access to free Formulator? Learn more

Last Samurai was always prominent en route to a four-length victory over favorite and co-highweight Fearless. Plans going forward are to be determined, Stewart said, as he wants to think through what might be the best route of races to the Breeders’ Cup.

“I don’t have it figured out just yet,” he said.

Stewart said Last Samurai would leave Oaklawn for Kentucky in a few days.

Earlier this meet, Last Samurai won his 3-year-old finale in the $150,000 Poinsettia on Dec. 11 at Oaklawn. And in his start prior to the Oaklawn Handicap, he was second in the track’s $150,000 Temperence Hill at 1 1/2 miles on April 3. Last Samurai was beaten a neck by multiple Grade 2 winner Lone Rock.

Last Samurai also raced over 1 1/2 miles last September, and was second by a neck in the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup on the main track at Parx Racing.

“The horse, he can run on the grass, too,” Stewart said.

The trainer noted Last Samurai was second by a neck in a turf allowance last June at Churchill Downs. He said the horse hyper-extended a leg and had to be given some time away from the races.

“It’s kind of a rare thing,” he said. “We just had to give him a little bit of a break. He fought his way back, got back to training good, working good, and ran a good race at Parx last fall. So, he’s a fighter.”

A true samurai.

** The multiple stakes winner Unified Report left Kentucky on Sunday morning bound for Oaklawn and the $150,000 Bachelor Stakes, Stewart said. The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds is Saturday and closes out the annual Racing Festival of the South.