Silver Prospector, Warrant face off in Cornhusker Handicap
Silver Prospector and Warrant figure to vie for favoritism in the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap on Saturday night at Prairie Meadows, but both come into the race at different stages of their careers.
Silver Prospector ran a breakthrough race in his most recent start, and Warrant could be sitting on one. They are part of a field of six for the 1 1/8-mile feature that anchors a card of four stakes making up the Iowa Festival of Racing. Others set to start are multiple graded stakes winners Rated R Superstar and Officiating, three-time stakes winner Flash of Mischief, and allowance winner Fleetridge.
“It’s an extremely competitive race,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Silver Prospector. “Some well-accomplished horses. Multiple millionaires in the race.”
Silver Prospector is one of those millionaires, a 5-year-old who made his mark early in his career with wins in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and Grade 3 Southwest. But he charted new territory May 30, when he won his first stakes as an older horse in the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park. Silver Prospector earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for the win, which was his first since an allowance score in October 2020. It came after a series of starts in which he hooked rivals like Olympiad, Mystic Guide, and Silver State.
“I really think the horse needed to win,” Asmussen said. “He’s always kept excellent company, was second to Olympiad at Fair Grounds. Coming out on top, we’ve been waiting for that for a while.”
Warrant is looking for his first win as an older horse. He closed his 3-year-old campaign in September with a win in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park. Warrant last raced June 11, finishing second in the Grade 2 Brooklyn at Belmont Park.
“We want to get back on a winning track,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He hasn’t won this year. He’s been close. I thought his last race was a good race. Obviously, we’re cutting back from a mile and a half to a mile and an eighth, so he’s plenty fit. He’s doing well. I want to get him on the scoreboard this year.”
Warrant gave a glimpse of his potential as an older horse in March, when he was second by a head in the Santa Anita Handicap. He earned a career-high Beyer of 104.
“He ran extremely well, didn’t quite get there,” Cox said. “Our goal is to try to win a Grade 1 with him at some point. I hope this is a building block to running in a Grade 1 in his next start.”
Warrant is the 121-pound highweight and will break from post 5 under Ricardo Santana Jr.
“Hopefully, no one gets loose on the lead,” Cox said. “We’ll break running and see where he’s comfortable.”
Officiating, a half-brother to champion Caledonia Road, is the lone horse going sprint to route.
Silver Prospector, the second-highweight at 119, will start from post 3 under Stewart Elliott.
“I think he’s a very steady horse,” Asmussen said. “There was quite a bit of pace for him in the Sexton Mile. It’s always a quickly run race. He stayed on the best.”
Rated R Superstar has finished third in the last two Cornhuskers, with last year’s won by Knicks Go, the eventual Horse of the Year trained by Cox.