Poshsky switches surfaces on short rest for Bertrando
CYPRESS, Calif. – Last Saturday, Poshsky finished fourth behind What a View in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes on a soggy turf course at Santa Anita. A week later, the 6-year-old Poshsky will be back on the track for the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for California-bred milers at Los Alamitos.
“If he wasn’t jumping around and bouncing around, I wouldn’t do it,” trainer Peter Miller said Thursday. “He’s feeling good and playing. We don’t have a problem.
“Some horses can do it. If they have a good constitution and they’re sound, you can do it.”
Poshsky is part of a field of seven. Many were comprehensively beaten in their last starts or are switching from turf to dirt, leaving them with something to prove.
Awesome Return and Neveradoubt, winners of the Snow Chief Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds in 2014 and 2015, will race as geldings for the first time. Boozer, a stakes winner on turf this year, seeks his first win on dirt. Soi Phet, the winner of the 2014 Bertrando Stakes, is winless in 13 starts since the $200,000 Los Alamitos Mile in September 2014.
Bertrando, Race 7
KEY CONTENDERS
Poshsky, by Vronsky
Last 3 Beyers: 93-77-93
◗ Poshsky has won 6 of 26 starts, with three wins on turf, two on synthetic surfaces, and one on dirt – a maiden claimer at Fairplex Park in 2013.
“He can run on any surface,” Miller said. “He might be a little better on firm turf or synthetic, but he can certainly run on dirt.”
◗ Poshsky was beaten 3 1/2 lengths by What a View in the Thunder Road, encountering brief trouble on the backstretch. Miller said a quick turnaround for the Bertrando was an easy decision since the race lacks a heavy favorite.
“It’s a fairly short field, and I knew it wouldn’t be as tough as the race he just ran in,” he said. “It’s worth a shot. We’ll give him a good six weeks for his next start.”
Boozer, by Unusual Heat
Last 3 Beyers: 91-95-94
◗ Boozer won the Sensational Star Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Feb. 27 and was a game second in an optional claimer on turf March 20. Boozer has won 6 of 21 starts, with all of the victories on turf. The Bertrando will be Boozer’s first start on dirt since a fifth-place finish in an optional claimer in January, his only start on the surface.
Avanti Bello, by Include
Last 3 Beyers: 73-90-88
◗ Avanti Bello starts from the inside and can play an important role as a front-runner. Avanti Bello won an optional claimer at a mile on dirt in January, and a repeat of that performance would make him a danger in this race.