Salahudin, Manuka Honey well suited for Iroquois, Pocahontas
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Bettors this time of year should consider standing against summer’s precocious 2-year-olds. The horses who flash in June, July, and August can struggle with longer distances and more rapidly advancing peers.
But the favorites in a pair of 2-year-old stakes Saturday at Churchill Downs are horses who look like they should be better over one mile in September than sprinting in July.
The Churchill morning line lists Salahudin the 8-5 favorite in the Grade 3, $300,000 Iroquois, a one-turn mile. Salahudin debuted July 17 at Ellis Park and won a 6 1/2-furlong maiden by two lengths, then came back Aug. 9 to capture the seven-furlong Ellis Park Juvenile by 4 1/2 lengths. The colt has a coarse build, a bulky, rambling stride – a horse that should improve the more he matures and farther he runs.
Favored at 9-5 in the Grade 3, $300,000 Pocahontas, another one-turn mile, Manuka Honey romped by seven lengths in the seven-furlong Ellis Park Debutante last month and in June, managed to win a five-furlong Churchill maiden race by the same margin despite looking little like a sprinter. While Manuka Honey stands over a wide swath of ground, she’s no lanky, antelope type.
Will either of these 2-year-olds who already look something like 3-year-olds turn into true Classic aspirants? Chances are, no, but the Iroquois launches Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby, while the Pocahontas begins the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. A total of 21 qualifying points will be distributed among the top five finishers in both races.
Bob Baffert trains Salahudin for Amr Zedan’s Zedan Racing Stable. Zedan paid $325,000 for Salahudin at a yearling auction, a fraction of what Zedan often pays for 2-year-olds. Nor is Salahudin anything like a typically racy Baffert colt. Salahudin went off at about 1-2 in his debut despite not breezing with flash, and the colt’s appearance and galumphing way of going reflect his pedigree. Salahudin is by Uncle Mo out of the Smart Strike mare Weekend Strike, who has produced Sizzling, a stakes winner over 1 3/4 miles; First Officer, a handicap winner over 1 1/2 miles; Decoration, whose lone win came at 1 1/4 miles; Squires Tale, a winner at 1 1/2 miles; and Evening Primrose, whose only victory was at two miles. Salahudin obviously will stay one mile and figures to stalk a strong pace under Florent Geroux.
Admiral’s Order and He Is No Lie could prove the primary pace players, and He Is No Lie, after missing by a head June 28 at Churchill in the Bashford Manor, lost any real chance Aug. 8 at Del Mar with a stumbling start in the Best Pal.
Antivenom raced close to the lead winning his lone start, on July 4, but the best part of his race came in the final furlong. Jose Ortiz likely positions him a couple lengths behind the leaders. Antivenom has upside, as might Florida shipper Real Gone, who debuted modestly in a turf route but won a dirt sprint second out by 8 1/2 lengths, going away at the finish and galloping out powerfully.
Nonetheless, it’s Blessed Flyer who stands the best chance of beating Salahudin. Privately purchased after a winning debut, Blessed Flyer closed strongly to run down He Is No Lie in the six-furlong Bashford Manor, and trainer Michael Tomlinson has pointed his charge to this race ever since. Tomlinson believes Blessed Flyer is more than a one-run sprinter, that the colt will stretch out. Blessed Flyer has kept to a steady, encouraging workout pattern since Tomlinson began ramping him up.
Manuka Honey might have no Saturday rival of that class. Trainer Brian Lynch has breezed Manuka Honey three times since her Debutante score, and while workout video from the first of those, on Aug. 23, shows the filly struggling to push past the turf maiden Ageeba Beach, she might have drilled more impressively Aug. 30 or Sept. 5.
Pierette clunked as the 2-1 favorite last month in the Adirondack at Saratoga after twice winning at Churchill. The quality of the Debutante on June 28 remains uncertain, but Pierette did get a 78 Beyer Speed Figure, and two of the race’s also-rans returned to win. Breaking from the rail, her trip under Ortiz could turn tricky.
Stripe Show’s lone start was a one-mile Ellis maiden, and while the filly won by a neck, jockey Jaime Torres barely asked her in the late stages, Stripe Show holding sway on her own courage. She has upside for trainer John Servis, perhaps more so than Scarlett Begonia, third in the Adirondack, and Miss Anna, second behind Scarlett Begonia in their common debut and a six-length, second-start maiden winner last month at Ellis.
None of those horses possess the physical presence of Manuka Honey, a two-time winner in the summer who might prove even better this fall.
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