Lugan Knight stays on dirt in Jerome Stakes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy kept a string in Kentucky this winter to take advantage of a strong purse structure at Turfway Park, he chose to send Lugan Knight to New York for Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.
A desire to stretch the horse out in distance and keep him on dirt were factors in choosing the Jerome, a one-turn mile race, over Saturday’s $125,000 Turfway Prevue Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on synthetic for Lugan Knight.
“I don’t know how far our horse will like to run, that’s why we’re going down this road now,” said McCarthy, whose horse has not yet run farther than 6 1/2 furlongs. “Obviously, there are plenty of options early in the spring around one turn, and we wanted to keep him on the dirt.”
Lugan Knight, a son of Goldencents, won his maiden at Keeneland going 6 1/2 furlongs in his second start. Five weeks later, in a first-level allowance race at Churchill Downs, Lugan Knight finished third behind Victory Formation and Two Eagles River. That performance can be upgraded following Victory Formation’s three-length victory in Sunday’s Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park to remain undefeated. Two Eagles River finished second, beaten a head, in the Renaissance Stakes on Dec. 31, also at Oaklawn.
McCarthy said he thought Lugan Knight “was running in spots” against Victory Formation. “Inside the eighth pole he started picking it up again, galloped out well,” McCarthy added.
Dylan Davis rides Lugan Knight from post 4.
Arctic Arrogance, a son of Frosted, comes out of a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Remsen, where he finished a half-length behind Dubyuhnell and 11 1/4 lengths clear of the third-place finisher Tuskegee Airmen. In the Remsen, Arctic Arrogance was a pace factor from the start.
Owing to the fact Arctic Arrogance is hard to keep weight off, trainer Linda Rice didn’t want to wait until next month’s Grade 3 Withers to run Arctic Arrogance again. She is not worried about cutting back to a one-turn mile as Arctic Arrogance has already won at that distance, taking the Sleepy Hollow for New York-breds by 4 1/2 lengths.
Arctic Arrogance is one of four New York-breds in this eight-horse field.
General Banker comes in off an 8 1/2-length victory in the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series going seven furlongs on Dec. 11. Andiamo a Firenze, who won the Funny Cide Stakes in August, is a half-brother to Firenze Fire, the 2018 Jerome winner. The other statebred entered is Neural Network, a son of 2017 Preakness winner Cloud Computing, who won a New York-bred maiden race by five lengths in his career debut for trainer Chad Brown.
Rice sends out a second entrant in Valenzan Day, a horse she claimed for $50,000 for herself out of a winning effort Dec. 4.
Narciso Dali, trained and owned in part by Amira Chichakly, comes off a 6 1/2-length win versus maiden $75,000 claimers going a mile here Dec. 1. Circling the Drain, trained by Brittany Russell, ships up from Maryland off a win for maiden $40,000 claiming on Dec. 9 at Laurel Park.
The top five from the Jerome earn qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby (10-4-3-2-1).
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.