O'Neill pointing pair to Breeders' Cup Juvenile, with possible stop in American Pharoah
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Barely a week removed from a training title at the Del Mar summer meeting, trainer Doug O’Neill has set his sights on graded stakes at Santa Anita for an array of 2-year-olds and a top-class sprinter.
O’Neill is finalizing plans for Phone Booth and Dang Son, who were second and third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs, finishing well behind 1-5 Hughes, who won by 4 3/4 lengths.
Hughes, trained by Bob Baffert, is a candidate for the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 3 as are Phone Booth and Dang Son. The winner of the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
O’Neill said Phone Booth and Dang Son will also be nominated for two other Grade 1 races on Oct. 3 – the $650,000 Breeders’ Futurity at 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland, and the $500,000 Champagne Stakes at a mile at Belmont Park. The winners of those races receive berths to the BC Juvenile.
O’Neill rates Phone Booth and Dang Son as BC Juvenile contenders.
“They have the talent to if they continue to develop and mature,” he said. “They both act like they’ll run two turns. You never know until they do it, but we’re optimistic.”
The stable also has a contender for the BC Juvenile with He Is No Lie, who finished second by a half-length at 9-1 to the Baffert-trained 9-10 favorite Salahudin in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at a mile at Churchill Downs on Saturday. He Is No Lie led in early stretch and was beaten 2 3/4 lengths.
He Is No Lie won his debut by eight lengths in a maiden race at 4 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita in May, but has had mixed results in three subsequent appearances in stakes. He was beaten a head in the $225,000 Bashford Manor Stakes at six furlongs at Churchill Downs in June after leading by four lengths with a furlong remaining.
He Is No Lie was only fourth of five in the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 8 after stumbling at the start and racing wide. Hughes won the race by 7 3/4 lengths, with Phone Booth second.
O’Neill said He Is No Lie may not race again until the BC Juvenile, pending conversations with owners Mark Davis and Janie Buss.
“I’ll have to huddle with the owners,” O’Neill said. “We’ll probably train him into it. Going a mile, that was a good effort.
“I thought he ran lights out.”
O’Neill, 58, has won five Breeders’ Cup races, the most recent of which was Nyquist in the 2015 Juvenile. The stable has won six. O’Neill was briefly suspended in the fall of 2014 when Goldencents won the BC Dirt Mile under the name of his longtime assistant Leandro Mora.
O’Neill finished the Del Mar summer meeting with 27 wins, 10 more than Baffert. While Baffert won six stakes, led by two from Hughes, O’Neill had one such win, Listenupshance in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs on July 25.
The winner of a $20,000 claimer for maidens in July 2025, Listenupshance earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint at six furlongs on Oct. 31 with his win in the Bing Crosby. On Sunday at Santa Anita, Listenupshance worked five furlongs from the gate in 1:02.00. Listenupshance is booked to run in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs on Sept. 27.
O’Neill won the 2006 BC Sprint with Thor’s Echo.
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