Recruiting Ready eyes road win in Bing Crosby Stakes

DEL MAR, Calif. – Not that local sprinters Cistron and Air Strike are pushovers, but the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar is a lot easier for New York sprinter Recruiting Ready than the Grade 1 Alfred Vanderbilt Handicap on Saturday at Saratoga.

“There are a couple horses in that race we kind of try to avoid,” trainer Stanley Hough said this week from Saratoga, where Recruiting Ready is based. Vanderbilt favorite Mitole is the country’s top sprinter, and multiple Grade 1 winner Imperial Hint also runs in the Vanderbilt.

Rather than stay home for a longshot chance in the Vanderbilt, Hough put Recruiting Ready on a plane and shipped him 2,440 miles to Del Mar. Smart move. Recruiting Ready is the 2-1 program favorite in the six-furlong, $300,000 Bing Crosby.

Recruiting Ready arrived Tuesday, trained this week over the Del Mar surface, and drew a comfortable outside post in the Bing Crosby, a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Recruiting Ready is the only entrant with three triple-digit Beyers. His jockey, Flavien Prat, seeks his fifth straight Bing Crosby.

The field drew four locals and four shippers. The top locals are Grade 2 winners – likely pacesetter Cistron and closer Air Strike. Front-runner Calexman entered, along with Desert Law, who has worked sensationally since a California-bred stakes romp.

The shippers, in addition to Recruiting Ready, are 10-for-15 Canterbury Park speedster Chief Cicatriz, and stablemates Jalen Journey and Line Judge, making their California debut for trainer Peter Miller.

The key to the race is 5-2 second-favorite Cistron, because he is likely to make the lead. Trainer John Sadler acknowledged the front-runner’s potential vulnerability. “It’s just if he gets chewed up on the pace,” he said.

Unfortunately for Cistron, it could happen. Calexman drew the rail and will have to use his speed, while two other pace rivals for Cistron are outside – Chief Cicatriz and Jalen Journey. Combined, that is four front-runners. The race could set up for the favorite.

Though he has won only 1 of 5 this year, Recruiting Ready ran well every time.

“He seemed to come back this year pretty strong,” Hough said. “I actually tried to get him to come off the pace a little bit. Especially going to California, sometimes you have no choice.”

Recruiting Ready is likely to be positioned midfield. “I would hope to see him back off the pace a little bit, but he does have a pretty good turn of foot,” Hough said.

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KEY CONTENDERS

Recruiting Ready, by Algorithms
Last 3 Beyers: 102-94-96

◗ Hough and Recruiting Ready’s regular jockey Luis Saez remain at Saratoga on Saturday to team with Global Campaign in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy. The 5-year-old Recruiting Ready is stabled at the Del Mar barn of trainer Michael McCarthy. Hough joked that Recruiting Ready “is in better hands.”

“[McCarthy] knows his way around there better,” he said.

◗ Recruiting Ready will run in Hough’s name; he is the trainer’s first Del Mar starter.

◗ Third last out in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont, Recruiting Ready has raced at 10 tracks and won on six. He is 7 for 21 with earnings of $652,285.

Cistron, by The Factor
Last 3 Beyers: 94-97-93

◗ No secret to the strategy that jockey Victor Espinoza and Sadler have planned: “He’s got to break, and go,” Sadler said. “It’s a tough spot, but he’s a good horse right now.”

◗ Cistron switched to dirt and wired a Grade 2 two back, followed by a runner-up finish last out in the Grade 2 Triple Bend at seven furlongs. He missed by a head after running his pace rivals into the ground with a blazing 44.53-second half-mile. The race produced two next-out winners.

Air Strike, by Street Sense
Last 3 Beyers: 94-90-87

◗ He rallied from last to upset the Triple Bend. Trainer Phil D’Amato won the Bing Crosby in 2017 and 2018 with Ransom the Moon, who also was shortening from seven furlongs.

D’Amato said Air Strike “is very sharp right now.”

“He kind of reminds me a lot of the Ransom the Moon form cycle,” he said. “I think he’s going to come with a powerful late run.”

Jalen Journey, by With Distinction
Last 3 Beyers: 96-95-98

◗ Purchased for $510,000 at a recent horses of racing age sale, the 3-for-5 Grade 3-placed sprinter will make his first start outside of Florida.

Desert Law, by Desert Code
Last 3 Beyers: 100-80-97

◗ His recent Beyer is the second-highest last-start figure in the field and he has worked super since. Trainer Carla Gaines said he thrived over slow surfaces at Santa Anita and Del Mar.

“Most horses struggled through it. He bounds over it,” she said.