Lost Ark will have to paddle hard in Sapling Stakes

Lost Ark has the speed figure and the pedigree, but Bourbon Spirit might be the right horse for the $200,000 Sapling Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

The Sapling drew eight 2-year-olds, and only one of them, Major Dude, has raced once than once. Major Dude won his debut June 18 at Monmouth and comes off a sixth-place finish in the Sanford Stakes at Saratoga, won by Mo Strike, whose trainer, Brad Cox, sends Bourbon Spirit from Kentucky. Leading Monmouth rider Paco Lopez rides Major Dude for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, but Pletcher’s “A” horse for the Sapling will widely be assumed to be Lost Ark.

Lost Ark won his lone start, a July 3 maiden race over 5 1/2 furlongs at Belmont Park by more than five lengths. He’s by sprint influence Violence but is out of Marion Ravenwood, the dam of top 3-year-old filly Nest, who easily gets 1 1/4 miles, and Idol, who won the Santa Anita Handicap over 1 1/4 miles. Javier Castellano is having a fabulous Saratoga meet but doesn’t ride the Travers card there Saturday and is named on Lost Ark.

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Lost Ark won well enough, and his 79 Beyer Speed Figure comfortably tops this field, though the colt is the opposite of a pretty mover. He runs with a complicated, inefficient paddling action, and drawn in post 2, Lost Ark will have to cope with other pace factors if he goes forward in the one-mile, two-turn Sapling.

None of the entrants has raced beyond seven furlongs or around two turns, and the other two horses with 70-plus Beyers, V Mart and American Blaze, won maiden sprints restricted to horses who sold at auction or failed to meet a reserve of $50,000, in V Mart’s race at Saratoga, and $45,000 in American Blaze’s race at Ellis Park. The two horses finishing just behind route-bred V Mart returned to win, but one captured another restricted maiden race, the other a turf sprint.

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Bourbon Spirit got just a 63 Beyer winning his lone start, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race run over a sloppy track July 16 at Ellis Park. But there’s more to the colt than a glance at the past performances might suggest. At the half-mile pole, trying for some reason to make an early move along the rail and inside three horses on the lead, Bourbon Spirit had to be checked and lost several lengths going into the turn. Unfazed, he strode into contention again before the quarter pole, and with the long, loping strides of a route horse, coasted to an easy victory followed by a strong gallop-out. Cox over the last two years has gone 5-1-2 with 11 Monmouth starters, and Bourbon Spirit – possibly at a square price – could further boost that strong mark.