Remington Sprint Cup next major target for Alsvid

Alsvid ran a monster race earlier this month, and his connections are now pointing him for the major sprint stakes at the Remington Park meet that opens in August. Alsvid earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 109 for his win in an optional $35,000 claiming race at Prairie Meadows. He romped by 16 lengths, while covering six furlongs in 1:09.71.

“He ran smooth off the TV screen,” said Chris Hartman, who trains Alsvid for the Black Hawk Stable operation of Jim and Jo Brenda Rogers.
Hartman said Alsvid will defend his title in the $75,000 David M. Vance at Remington on Aug. 17. The race is a stepping-stone to the $150,000 Remington Park Sprint Cup, another goal and a race that Alsvid also won last year. The Sprint Cup is run on the undercard of the Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 29.

Hartman said the races are a target for the horse because his ownership lives in Oklahoma.

Alsvid was moving back to the main track for the optional claimer at Prairie Meadows, one start after a turf sprint stakes race at Canterbury in which he finished sixth. He did not handle the ground, which was soft, said Hartman.

“I always wanted to run him on the grass; I always thought he would be real lethal on the grass,” Hartman said. “We took him up there and there was a torrential downpour.

“I still want to try him on turf down the road.”

After the start at Canterbury, Alsvid was pointed to the Iowa Sprint Handicap, but a foot bruise forced him to lose some training time and he was rerouted to the optional claimer. The race was the biggest of the horse’s career, said Hartman.

“It was one thing after another, and then he ran the biggest race of his life,” said Hartman.