Locked pointing to Suburban; Fierceness to Met Mile

Locked, the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner who finished fourth in the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs two weeks ago, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban Stakes on July 4 at Saratoga, owner Aron Wellman said Friday.

Speaking from Pimlico, where he was to run Journalism in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, Wellman, managing partner of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, said that the Suburban was chosen over races like the Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga and Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs because it gives the horse “a little more time to spread out the second half of the year.”

Locked, who missed most of his 3-year-old season due to a knee injury, returned in time to win an allowance in October and the Grade 2 Cigar Mile in December. After finishing second in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream in January, Locked shipped cross-country to win the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March. In the Alysheba, Locked was somewhat compromised by a slow pace in a race that was won by his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Fierceness.

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Fierceness returned to the work tab Thursday at Saratoga, breezing a half-mile in 49 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. Fierceness is being pointed to the Met Mile on June 7.

Mindframe, who, like Fierceness is owned by Mike Repole and trained by Pletcher, is being considered for the Met Mile or the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 28. Mindframe is 2 for 2 at Churchill, including a win in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes going seven furlongs on the Derby Day card.

Antiquarian, the Peter Pan Stakes winner from 2024 and a recent Gulfstream allowance winner, is pointing to the Grade 3, $275,000 Blame Stakes at Churchill on May 31.

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