Mandella will keep Forbidden Kingdom sprinting in Speakeasy Stakes

Forbidden Kingdom, a fast debut maiden winner at Del Mar, will remain around one turn for the time being and will not stretch out, trainer Richard Mandella said Tuesday.

Forbidden Kingdom had been expected to try two turns for the first time in the Grade 1, $300,000 American Pharoah going 1 1/16 miles on Friday’s opening-day card at Santa Anita. Instead, he was re-routed to the $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes, a five-furlong grass race, also Friday.

Both races, for 2-year-olds, are Win and You’re In races towards respective Breeders’ Cup races Nov. 5 at Del Mar. The American Pharoah offers a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Speakeasy to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

“I just didn’t think he was ready to stretch out yet,” Mandella said. “I thought this was the easier thing to do.”

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Forbidden Kingdom, by American Pharoah, won his lone start Aug. 21 going 5 1/2 furlongs, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 79. The horse who crossed the wire second in that race, Kamui, came back to defeat maidens at Los Alamitos on Sept. 11.