Power Alert, Hogy could provide clues to Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Horseplayers seeking additional information to handicap Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita could be provided direction with the results of Friday’s eighth race at Churchill Downs. The race, a $70,000 allowance at five furlongs on turf, drew a couple of horses in Power Alert and Hogy who come off runner-up finishes in stakes that served as Turf Sprint preps for some notable Breeders’ Cup entrants.

If Power Alert, who came within a head of outlasting Pure Sensation in the Belmont Turf Sprint on Oct. 8, is successful at Churchill Downs, it would validate the form of Pure Sensation and the lofty 104 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in winning that race.

Similarly, a win from Hogy would lend support to the chances of Turf Sprint starters Mongolian Saturday and Undrafted, who ran first and sixth in the Grade 3 Woodford at Keeneland on Oct. 8, with Hogy rallying to lose by just a half-length.

Breeders’ Cup clues aside, Friday’s eighth race is a good betting race on its own, attracting 10 other turf sprinters besides Power Alert and Hogy, plus a main-track-only entrant in Candip.

A five-furlong turf specialist trained by Brian Lynch and co-owned by Lynch and AJ Suited Racing Stable, Power Alert likely will be favored. A two-time stakes winner this year, he also won the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint over the Churchill Downs turf course in May 2015.

California-based Drayden Van Dyke, in town to ride the Friday card, has the mount.

As is typical for a five-furlong race, this race is laden with speed, which could play to Hogy’s stalking style.

Joe Rocco Jr. has been named to ride Hogy, along with entrymate Smart Fortune, indicating that a scratch of one of the duo or a rider change is forthcoming.

Race 8

Key Contenders

Hogy, by Offlee Wild

Last 3 Beyers: 96-96-89

◗ Prior to his runner-up finish in the Woodford, he was second in the $309,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint on Sept. 3.

Expected Ruler, by Leroidesanimaux

Last 3 Beyers: 85-93-90

◗ Won a second-level allowance over the Churchill grass in September before heading to Woodbine and fading to eighth in the Grade 2 Nearctic on Oct. 16 behind Turf Sprint longshot Calgary Cat.

Power Alert, by Alert

Last 3 Beyers: 104-75-95

◗ A bleeder in Australia, he moved a couple of years ago to the U.S., where he could race on Lasix. He is 5 for 14 in America since December 2014.