Many Million Preview Day runners could point to Arlington Million card

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The protagonists from Million Preview Day on Saturday at Arlington could all return for corresponding races on the Aug. 16 Arlington Million card.

That includes Divine Oath, who scored his first stakes win in the American Derby, rallying from sixth, splitting horses in upper stretch, diving to the rail, and catching Our Channel in the final yards. The victory was one of three in graded stakes Saturday for jockey Florent Geroux.

“That would be our initial thought,” trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. “He’s still on his way back to New York. We’ll survey how the field is shaping up and see how quickly he recovers from the race and the trip.”

Divine Oath won a pair of 7 1/2-furlong turf races at Gulfstream to start his career, but that distance appears to be short of his best. After a closing fourth in the Penn Mile, Pletcher’s thoughts turned to the 1 3/16-mile American Derby because “we’ve always felt like added distance would suit him,” Pletcher said.

Divine Oath, a son of Broken Vow owned by Lets Go Stable, is closely related to Interactif, a Pletcher-trained graded stakes winner on grass. That kinship, plus the fact Divine Oath looked better working on turf than dirt before his debut this winter, led Pletcher to focus on grass and synthetic-surface races. Divine Oath worked several times at Saratoga last summer without starting. Pletcher describe the colt as “babyish” as a 2-year-old.
Divine Oath’s time of 1:56.50 produced an initial Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

The second- and third-place American Derby finishers also could return for the Secretariat. The runner-up Our Channel heads back to trainer William Haggas’ base at Newmarket in England on Tuesday evening, but Haggas suggested last week that Saturday’s race could be something like a trial run for the Secretariat. Our Channel’s speed was effective Saturday, and he had a good week leading up to the race, according to assistant trainer Archie Watson. Haggas will want to have a look at the colt upon his return before making any decisions, Watson said.

The third-place Highball is a likely Secretariat starter if he has a good month before the race, trainer Wayne Catalano said. Making just his third start and exiting a maiden win, Highball broke poorly Saturday and was caught wide around the far turn. He finished well to edge favored Schoolofhardrocks for third, a performance that pleased Catalano.

“If I’d have swapped positions with the winner, I think he’d have won,” Catalano said. “He walked out of the gate, left there like a first-time starter, and then he was wide the whole way. He was a little green, but when he saw daylight, he finished like a freight train. We might put some blinkers on him.”

I’m Already Sexy Likely for Beverly D.

Catalano said the Modesty Handicap winner I’m Already Sexy had come out of her race in good shape and that there was a decent chance she’d be pointed to the Beverly D. Stakes.

“We’re going to consider it. She likes the surface so much we have to consider it,” Catalano said.

I’m Already Sexy ran her record to 4 for 4 on the Arlington grass course. She won the Grade 3 Pucker Up here last summer as a 3-year-old.

Saturday’s race was her first on Lasix, and I’m Already Sexy got a perfect trip pressing a slow pace. The closers were bearing down on her at the finish, but I’m Already Sexy still had energy left, galloping back out in front after the wire. Her winning Beyer was 86.

Handicap, Stars and Stripes winners could return

Finnegan’s Wake got a 92 Beyer winning the Arlington Handicap by a head over Admiral Kitten, and trainer Dale Romans said Sunday the 5-year-old, who won for the first time since June 2012, would have to be considered for the Arlington Million, a race in which he finished a close fourth last year.

“He just won a mile-and-a-quarter race over the Arlington turf, and he ran well in the Million last year. You have to consider him for the Million,” Romans said.

Romans said Finnegan’s Wake, who is already back in Kentucky, had taken the race well.

“He comes out of all his races fine. He’s an iron horse,” said Romans.

The Romans-trained O’Prado Ole finished a close second in the 1 1/2-mile Stars and Stripes Stakes a race after the Handicap, and he would be a natural contender for the one and 1 1/16-mile American St. Leger on the Million card. That, too, would be a natural landing spot for the Stars and Stripes winner, the Illinois-bred The Pizza Man, who set a slow pace and led all the way for his first graded stakes win.

Pletcher said Charming Kitten, who won the two-mile Gold Cup at Belmont this summer, was a probable starter in the St. Leger.