Olympiad's next target is Grade 1 win (maybe Whitney?), Mott says
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Olympiad has won four straight races, three of them graded stakes - one Grade 3, two Grade 2. So, following his victory at Churchill Downs on Friday in the Alysheba Stakes, he’s got a bronze and two silvers. Now he’ll go for gold.
His trainer, Bill Mott, on Sunday morning said Olympiad’s main goal now is to knock off a Grade 1 race, and said the Whitney this summer at Saratoga is his likely target, with a potential race between now and then.
“I’d like to find something to get him to the Whitney,” Mott said. “But I haven’t thought much about it yet.”
Mott said he “couldn’t be more impressed” by the development this year of Olympiad, who got a Beyer Speed Figure of 103 in the Alysheba, equaling his career best – earned in the New Orleans Classic – and marking four straight races this year in which he got a figure of 101 or better.
“He’s stepped right up and done everything asked,” Mott said.
Happy Saver, who finished second in the Alysheba, beaten 2 1/2 lengths in his first start of the year, will leave Churchill Downs this week for Belmont Park and be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban at 1 1/4 miles on July 9, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday.
The Suburban winner last year was Max Player, who also was making his first start of the year in the Alysheba, but finished last in the field of seven in the 1 1/16-mile race. His trainer, Steve Asmussen, on Sunday morning said he thought the distance was “way too short for him,” and said he’d look to try and repeat in the Suburban, but also said he’d nominate Max Player to the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn at 1 1/2 miles on the Belmont Stakes card June 11.