McCarthy has stakes options aplenty

ARCADIA, Calif. – Four of trainer Michael McCarthy’s stakes runners at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita last weekend are likely to scatter across the United States – and perhaps over the Atlantic – for their next starts.

McCarthy won three stakes on Saturday – the Grade 1 American Turf Stakes with Stark Contrast and Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint with Yellow Card at Churchill Downs, and the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes with Mondego at Santa Anita.

On Friday, McCarthy’s 3-year-old filly Meaning was a game second in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. It was nearly a perfect weekend for the 55-year-old trainer.

“We came up a little short,” McCarthy said on Sunday afternoon at Santa Anita. “I knew we’d have a good day on Saturday. I thought we’d have a great night on Friday.”

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Meaning is under consideration for the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes, a $500,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on June 5.

“I’m very proud of that filly,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said that Stark Contrast and Yellow Card have been invited to Royal Ascot in Britain in June and that such a trip is “feasible.”

“We’ll see. I need to make sure they’re all good,” he said.

Stark Contrast won the $999,750 American Turf Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles by a convincing 2 1/4 lengths. At Royal Ascot, the leading race for 3-year-olds at a mile is the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes on June 16, which is worth approximately $948,000.

Yellow Card won the $594,600 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at 5 1/2 furlongs by a neck for his second stakes win of the year. At Royal Ascot, there are two Group 1 races for older horses that would suit Yellow Card – the $948,000 King Charles Stakes at five furlongs on June 16 or the $1.35 million Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at six furlongs on June 20. The Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga on June 6 is another option for Yellow Card.

Mondego will have a domestic campaign focused on races at 1 1/4 miles on turf. In the $200,000 Whittingham, Mondego won for the second time this year at the distance. The next graded stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf in California is the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita in early fall.

Mondego could start outside of California in coming months. There are two Grade 2 races at the Del Mar summer meeting that could include Mondego – the $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on July 26 and the $300,000 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on Aug. 29.

“A mile and a quarter is his thing,” McCarthy said. “We might have to look around.”

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