McCraken readies for first test against older horses in Fayette

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three-year-olds begin merging into the Thoroughbred mainstream around this time of year, and trainer Ian Wilkes is as interested as anyone else to see how McCraken will match up when facing older horses for the first time.

“We’ll find out soon, huh?” Wilkes said.

A revealing test will come next Saturday at Keeneland, where McCraken is expected to line up against Neolithic, Honorable Duty, and The Player in a terrific 60th running of the closing-day feature, the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes.

McCraken had his fifth and most serious workout since a seventh-place finish in the Aug. 26 Travers when going six furlongs in 1:14.60 on Thursday at his Churchill Downs base with regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard. Wilkes said a shorter work likely will come “early in the week” as a final tune-up.

“Those are some very nice horses he’ll be in against,” said Wilkes, who trains McCraken for Whitham Thoroughbreds. “There are no pushovers. This is Keeneland. It’s not easy.”

Wilkes said he considered other races for McCraken, but the timing of the $200,000 Fayette is ideal toward his year-end goal, the Grade 1 Clark Handicap on Nov. 24 at Churchill.

“I’m very happy with the horse right now,” he said. “He’ll have these two races, and then we’ll regroup for hopefully a big 4-year-old season.”

Neolithic, trained by Todd Pletcher, had his final race tune-up Thursday when going a half-mile in 48.80 seconds over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga. He could be a slight favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Fayette after having faced Gun Runner and/or Arrogate in three of his last four starts.

Honorable Duty, winner of three graded stakes this year, was scheduled to have his final prerace breeze Saturday at Keeneland. The Player, second to Awesome Slew in the Sept. 30 Ack Ack at Churchill, was scheduled to work this weekend at Churchill. Entries for Saturday will be drawn Wednesday.