Saint Leon yet to slow down at age 9
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Hogy won the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup over one mile on Polytrack in 2013, and he is using the featured fifth race Sunday at Arlington as a bridge toward a Hanshin repeat bid May 24.
Considering that, Saint Leon is the horse to beat in a six-furlong Polytrack race with multiple high-end allowance conditions and an $80,000 claiming option.
Saint Leon makes his 9-year-old debut in Sunday’s feature, and as of his 8-year-old season, age hadn’t yet slowed him. The onetime $5,000 claimer has been campaigned judiciously – winning half of his four starts over the last two years – by trainer Michele Boyce and the partnership that owns him, and, most pertinent to his 2014 debut, Saint Leon has been at his very best running in late-spring races at Arlington.
On May 11, 2011, he earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure for an allowance romp on Polytrack; in May 2012, he easily won a five-furlong grass allowance and got a 97 Beyer; and last May 12, making his first start since July, Saint Leon won a race very much like Sunday’s by three lengths, getting a career-best 106 Beyer.
Victorious in 14 of 31 career starts, Saint Leon knows only one way to race, going straight to the lead and running his foes off their feet. His style meshes perfectly with jockey E.T. Baird, and if Saint Leon – off an encouraging series of morning drills – comes out guns blazing Sunday, he seems likely to outsprint Console, his main pace rival, and take this field on a merry chase.
Hogy had an excellent 2013 season, winning four races and almost $340,000 while proving capable at distances ranging from 5 1/2 furlongs to one mile. Hogy doesn’t show his best on dirt, and a solid second at Hawthorne in his 2014 debut has to be seen in that light, and he had a difficult journey from a wide draw in finishing a close fourth in the Shakertown, a turf sprint last month at Keeneland.
“I just figured I’d use this race as a stepping-stone instead of working the horse again,” said trainer Scott Becker. “I’m just trying to get a good finishing race and have him pointed to the Hanshin.”
If Saint Leon has lost a step, the pace-pressing Console could get a good trip. Four Left Feet finished just behind Hogy and has run well on Polytrack in the past.
◗ If early signs are an indication, trainer Mike Maker means business at this meet. Maker’s powerful outfit had just 20 runners during the 2013 Arlington season and only 14 the year before, but he has horses entered in five races on Sunday’s card alone.
◗ Apprentice rider Santo Sanjur has gotten off to a good Arlington start and entered Friday’s card tied for second in the jockeys’ standings with four wins, one behind Rosemary Homeister Jr.