Pegasus favorite Kingsbarns still difficult to measure
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Another Kentucky Derby pace casualty, Kingsbarns, is set to rebound from a poor showing on the first Saturday in May.
Kingsbarns breaks from the outside post in an eight-entrant renewal of the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile Monmouth Park prep for the Grade 1 Haskell next month. He can run last and still place considerably higher than in the Derby, where Kingsbarns checked in 14th of 18.
That’s not as bad as it sounds. Kingsbarns dueled through a hot Derby pace with Verifying and paid the price, crossing the finish some 25 lengths behind victorious Mage. Verifying, however, was about another 30 lengths farther behind in 16th, showing the steep toll exacted by a half-mile time of 45.73 seconds.
Verifying already has bounced back from his Derby flop, earning a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure when he finished second behind Disarm on June 11 in the Matt Winn Stakes at Ellis Park. Kingsbarns, Luis Saez aboard for the first time, will widely be expected to do the same in the Pegasus.
If Kingsbarns builds on his performance March 25, a 3 1/2-length score in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, he’ll be very competitive Saturday, but there are grounds for skepticism. Kingsbarns coasted to an easy lead in the Louisiana Derby while runner-up Disarm had a much worse trip. Disarm, too, was not the same horse in late March that he has become in mid-June, and Louisiana Derby third-place finisher Jace’s Road was 17th in the Derby.
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Trained by Todd Pletcher for Spendthrift Farm, Kingsbarns, a son of Uncle Mo, briefly was mentioned as a Belmont Stakes possible before connections went a different direction. Since the Derby, Kingsbarns has logged two half-mile drills over the Belmont training track, both in modest official times. He’s a likely Pegasus underlay.
Pletcher’s second entrant, Classic Catch, has a Triple Crown link of his own having finished a well-beaten fourth in the Peter Pan Stakes, his most recent race. The Peter Pan winner, Arcangelo of course, came back with a sharp Belmont Stakes win. Classic Catch raced in blinkers for the first time in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan, where he was into the race much sooner than in the Gotham Stakes, where Classic Catch subtly ran well to finish fifth after falling much too far behind down the backstretch.
The half-furlong cutback in trip could suit him and at 116 pounds he gets six pounds from the stakes winners in the field – Kingsbarns, Howgreatisnate, who won the Long Branch, and minor stakes winner No Confession.
Moreau and Subrogate exit smart maiden wins. Brad Cox had a mass of Pegasus nominees and chose Salute the Stars, who slogged out a first-level allowance win in a nine-furlong, off-turf contest at Churchill Downs.
Salvator Mile
Nimitz Class, who at age 4 already has racked up 10 victories, heads a group of 10 older horses entered in the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile.
Trained by Pennsylvania-based Bruce Kravets for owner Tom Coulter, Nimitz Class has gone 10-1-0 during his 16-start career and comes into the Salvator Mile on a five-race winning streak that includes four $100,000 stakes in Maryland and a last-out no-conditions allowance at Parx Racing. By Munnings out of the Flatter mare Five Diamonds, Nimitz Class made nine of his first 10 starts in sprints and has found a home in races between one mile and 1 1/8 miles.
Nimitz Class has gone 6 for 6 in dirt routes and has been winning by wide margins. He has speed that regular rider Jevian Toledo must use from post 8, but the colt ought to love a flat mile at short-stretch Monmouth.
Artorius showed ample talent last year at age 3 and is set to make his first start since October. Trained by Chad Brown for his breeder, Juddmonte, Artorius came off a second-start maiden win to capture the restricted Curlin Stakes last July at Saratoga by nearly five lengths.
His Beyer Speed Figure rose, but Artorious found the Travers Stakes competition too stiff, checking in sixth while beaten more than 10 lengths. Brown cut him back to one turn for the Perryville in October at Keeneland, where Artorious ran like a colt who had gone past his best, finishing a distant fourth. The short-stretch, two-turn mile plays to his strengths, and Artorius ought to have a fast pace at which to run.
Nimitz Class should have front-end company from Octane, Ridin With Biden, and, most of all, rail-drawn Petulante, who is 5-3-2-0 to start his career. Petulante makes his stakes and two-turn debut in the Salvator Mile. He was a determined Churchill Downs allowance-race winner in a one-turn mile on May 6, but the horse he turned away, King Ottoman, was soundly defeated at the same allowance class in his next start.
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