Recruiting Ready tries route in Iroquois

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – An unexpected entry gives the Iroquois Stakes a very interesting look: Recruiting Ready, a speedy invader from Maryland by way of New York, will have Gary Stevens aboard when stretching out in the 1 1/16-mile race Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Recruiting Ready was 2-5 when caught in the final yards of the 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga Special last month, and his running style has hardly suggested that the colt wants extra distance. Nonetheless, here he is, prepared to show the way to seven other 2-year-olds in the Grade 3, $150,000 Iroquois, a Win and You’re In event for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and a points race toward the Kentucky Derby.

Recruiting Ready also held a commanding lead on closing night of the Churchill spring meet before being nailed late in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor.

“It seems like he likes to run better when he’s on the bit,” said Horacio DePaz, who trains Recruiting Ready for the Sagamore Farm of Kevin Plank. “It’s just a little immaturity. He thinks he has it done, and then he backs off.”

Giving willing chase to Recruiting Ready in this 35th running of the Iroquois will be a host of promising juveniles, including Not This Time, Thirstforlife, Blame Will, and Lookin At Lee.

Not This Time, bred and owned by the Albaugh Family Stable, has had trainer Dale Romans talking in superlatives since the Giant’s Causeway colt ran off the television screen in an Aug. 12 maiden victory at Ellis Park.

“He’s got all the tools and the kind of pedigree that says he should get better as he matures,” said Romans.

Thirstforlife won a June maiden race at Churchill as a 1-10 favorite before being sent by trainer Mark Casse to finish a creditable third in the Grade 2 Best Pal behind Klimt, the eventual winner of the Del Mar Futurity.

Blame Will earned a field-high Beyer Speed Figure of 88 by winning an Aug. 20 maiden race at Saratoga in his third career start for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Remarkably, the Iroquois is one of the few Churchill stakes that Lukas has never won.

Lookin At Lee has won twice in three attempts, including the Ellis Park Juvenile in his most recent start Aug. 6, and comes favorably drawn here in post 1 for jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. and trainer Steve Asmussen.

The balance of the field is Honor Thy Father, Skinflint, and Just Move On.

The Iroquois, named in honor of beautiful Iroquois Park, located just south of the track, is carded as the eighth of 11 races and leads off an all-stakes pick-three wager that ends with the Open Mind (race 9) and Pocahontas (race 10).