Skippylongstocking, Crupi eyeing Woodward at Aqueduct
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Skippylongstocking, the fifth-place finisher in the Grade 1 Whitney who came out of that race to win his second straight Charles Town Classic, will be pointed to the Grade 2 Woodward Stakes on Sept. 28 at Aqueduct, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said.
Last year, Skippylongstocking won the Charles Town Classic and then trained up to the Breeders’ Cup, where he finished third behind Cody’s Wish and National Treasure in the Dirt Mile. Joseph said this year he prefers to run Skippylongstocking in the Woodward and then depending how he runs, a decision will be made to run in either the $1 million Dirt Mile or the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“Maybe the Woodward will make sense, I won’t have to do as much in between races,” Joseph said. “He’s a horse that what’s made him consistent is we work him with the worst horse in the barn each time and he thrives on that. He’ll work with the best horse, but then he doesn’t produce in the races as consistently.”
Should he run in the Woodward, Skippylongstocking will likely take on Crupi, the Suburban winner who finished second in the Whitney. Trainer Todd Pletcher elected to keep Crupi out of Sunday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup – a race in which he runs Tapit Trice and Bright Future – but give him another race before the Breeders’ Cup.
“He’d run in the Brooklyn, Suburban, Whitney, I thought can I keep going to the well every month or should I skip one and run there and hopefully the Breeders’ Cup Classic?” Pletcher said. “The option was to run him back one more time and then go in fresh, just felt like he might be better with a race a little closer.”
On Friday, Crupi worked a half-mile in 48.66 seconds over the Saratoga main track.
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