Obliteration gets back on turf for Franklin-Simpson
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Obliteration has faced the best competition and run the fastest races among an overflow field of 16 entered in the Franklin-Simpson Stakes on Monday at Kentucky Downs. His 8-1 morning-line price reflects the fact that Obliteration has done all his best work on dirt – but not all his work.
Obliteration made three starts on turf last season, winning none of them but racing competitively in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, where he was fourth; in the Indian Summer at Keeneland, where he was second beaten a half-length; and, in his grass debut, a second over this very course in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint.
“That was a solid run he made there last year,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He’s always been a nice horse. It opens up a lot of upside if he can do it on turf.”
No more than a dozen can start in the Franklin-Simpson, a 6 1/2-furlong contest that had a short stint as a Grade 1 but now is run as a Grade 2 with a Grade A purse: $1.5 million for Kentucky-breds like Obliteration. Those bred elsewhere aren’t eligible for the $750,000 supplement coming from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.
No Franklin-Simpson runner other than Obliteration has crossed the triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure threshold, and he’s done so twice, including his commendable third two back in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens, won brilliantly by the fastest 3-year-old in North America, Englishman. Obliteration, one of the primary pace players Monday, breaks from post 12 under a new rider, the trainer’s son Keith Asmussen.
Jose Ortiz rode Obliteration last out but winds up Monday on Blinging It Back, one of two entrants for trainer Mark Casse, and one among a bevy of plausible winners. Blinging It Back has lost six in a row – while turning in commendable second-place finishes his last two starts – since notching a course-and-distance maiden win last Kentucky Downs season. In that race, he rallied outside and in the clear while beating two Franklin-Simpson rivals, Vasy and his stablemate Alpyland.
Alpyland had a tougher trip than Blinging It Back in the Kentucky Downs race and went on to win six out of his next nine starts. A two-race stakes winning streak was snapped Aug. 1 in the 1 1/16-mile Secretariat at Colonial Downs. The 11-10 favorite, Alpyland made the lead in upper stretch but was run down by two rivals.
“I don’t know really what to think of that race, but I suspected maybe that was a little too far for him,” Casse said. “Sometimes he wants to get eager early; cutting him back to a sprint, we’ll see how that’s going to work out. This race should have plenty of pace.”
Vasy is one of three entrants for trainer Brendan Walsh, who believes all his runners rate a decent chance. Learntodiscover stretches out from 5 1/2-furlong sprints – he won the Quick Call two back over less challenging competition thanks to a favorable race flow – while Vasy and Immortalised cut back from routes.
Immortalised drew post 1 and will automatically wind up racing on the best part of the course with the temporary rail coming down for Monday’s races. Vasy lacks the quickness for short sprints, but also doesn’t truly suit the routes he’s been trying.
“He barely gets a mile, and his last three races probably were a shade too far for him,” Walsh said.
Hey Nay Nay ships from California to make his first start since Jan. 25 and could show some inside speed, though perhaps not as much as Honey Dutch, the horse drawn immediately outside him. Honey Dutch, a one-way pace horse, has been leading in middle-distance stakes races but has yet to hang on and win one. He went to the front in a restricted one-mile maiden last season at Kentucky Downs and romped, and if nothing else could provide Obliteration a target.
Two Out Hero comes from Canada and should outrun his 20-1 morning-line odds. Trained at Woodbine by Kevin Attard, Two Out Hero is 2 for 2 in turf sprints, both of the longer variety like the Franklin-Simpson: He won the Soaring Free last year, and last out, in an allowance race, sliced between horses in deep stretch and bested a pair of tough older rivals, War Strategy and War Bomber.
The 4-1 morning-line favorite, Take Charge Star, shipped from Ireland for trainer John Murtagh but did not come with his regular rider, Ben Coen. Jamie Spencer picks up the mount.
Take Charge Star has raced effectively deploying various styles and exits back-to-back career peaks. At Royal Ascot, he chased home the good horse Thesecretadversary, both horses breaking away from 14 other runners going a straight seven furlongs in the Grade 3 Jersey. And last out, prompting the pace, Take Charge Star finished a competitive fourth behind three solid high-level sprinters in the 6 1/2-furlong, Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville.
His trainer, John Murtagh, a champion jockey in Ireland, won six American races from 53 rides. He’s 0 for 2 over here as a trainer, and his horse has Obliteration to run down Monday at Kentucky Downs.
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