Oscar Performance now has look of a miler

ELMONT, N.Y. – Oscar Performance will likely point to races at a mile for the remainder of the year following his course-record performance at the distance in Sunday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park.

In his first start since running ninth in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Turf, Oscar Performance won the Poker by 1 1/2 lengths over Made You Look. Oscar Performance ran a mile in 1:31.23 over a course that had been yielding fast times all week, eclipsing the course and stakes record of 1:31.63, set by Elusive Quality in 1998. He also equaled the North American record for one mile on turf set by Mandurah at Monmouth Park in 2010.

Oscar Performance earned a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

It was his first trip at a mile since he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in 2016. Last year, the big-money races in the division were at 1 1/4 miles, and Oscar Performance successfully stretched out to win the Belmont Derby and Secretariat, both Grade 1’s.

With the 1 1/2-miles of the Joe Hirsch and Breeders’ Cup Turf proving too far, Oscar Performance’s year-end goal will likely be the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

“It looks like a mile might be his trip,” Lynch said. “We’ll probably concentrate around there.”

Lynch also has Heart to Heart, a Grade 1 winner from a mile to 1 1/8 miles, in that same division. Heart to Heart won the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland, and Lynch has said he is probable for the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga on Aug. 11. Oscar Performance could be considered for that race as well.

“It’s a terrible problem to have,” Lynch joked. “Somehow, we’ll try to keep them separated.”

The Woodbine Mile on Sept. 15 and the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland in early October are other races Lynch would like to make with Oscar Performance or Heart to Heart.