Sam Houston: Admiral Kitten, King David meet in deep Connally Turf Cup

The presence of Grade 1 winners Admiral Kitten and King David in Saturday night’s Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston Race Park makes for arguably the strongest field ever assembled for the 1 1/8-mile grass race.

Fredericksburg, a sharp allowance winner last month at Gulfstream, Vertiformer, who is Grade 2-placed, and Marine Patrol, second in his stakes debut last out at Fair Grounds, add further depth to the stakes, which is being run on the undercard of the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic.

There are four stakes in all on Saturday night’s card, and they are worth a cumulative $725,000 to make for the richest Thoroughbred program in Texas. Sam Houston will group the races into an all-stakes pick four that has a reduced 12 percent takeout. The sequence runs on races 6-9.

Admiral Kitten became a Grade 1 winner in August, when he captured the Secretariat at Arlington Park. He almost won another in his next start, when beaten a half-length in the Jamaica at Belmont Park. He will enter the Connally – his first start against older horses – off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Betfair Hollywood Park on Dec. 1.

“He’s a very consistent horse,” said Mike Maker, who trains Admiral Kitten for breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey. “He had an outside trip last time, and the winner waltzed up the rail. I think that was the difference. He ran his usual good race.”

Julien Leparoux has the mount on Admiral Kitten, who will be turning back from 1 1/4 miles.

“He’s run good at all distances, [but] I think his best distance this year will be a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half,” Maker said.

Maker added that he’s hopeful the class drop the horse takes will increase his effectiveness at the shorter trip Saturday.

King David picked up his Grade 1 win in the 2012 Jamaica at 1 1/8 miles. He also ran second in last year’s Connally. This year, King David enters the race off a sixth-place finish in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial at Fair Grounds on Dec. 21. Maker said he felt the horse did not handle the course in New Orleans.

“This is a perfect distance for him, so he’s back to try it again,” he said of sending King David to town for Scarlet Stable.

Rosie Napravnik has the mount.

Fredericksburg, named for the town in Texas by owner and breeder Ramona Bass, rallied for a 1 3/4-length win in a Gulfstream allowance at a mile on turf in his most recent start Dec. 21.

“The race at Gulfstream was a tough race,” trainer Michael Matz said. “Some of those horses were horses that ran in stakes before. It was a very difficult allowance race.”

Matz was impressed with the horse’s performance, which earned him a chance at the Connally Cup.

“His two older sisters are both stakes winners, and he’s the third foal out of the dam, so we’re trying to get a stakes winner here,” Matz said.

Luis Saez has the mount from post 8.

“I think he’ll be pretty close to the pace,” Matz said. “It doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot of pace in this race. I have a feeling we’ll be, if not on the lead, pretty darn close to it.”

◗ Force Freeze, the runner-up in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will be making his first start in about two years in the $75,000 Champion Energy Services, a five-furlong turf sprint led by Sum of the Parts and Hogy. Sum of the Parts won the $75,000 Bonapaw at Fair Grounds in his last start Dec. 21, while Hogy enters off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 5.

◗ Kowboy Boots, a last-out claim by the Ramseys and Maker, makes his stakes debut in the $50,000 Allen’s Landing for 3-year-olds at six furlongs. The horse won a $40,000 maiden-claiming route at Churchill on Nov. 29.