Sligo Bay may face Redattore
ALBANY, Calif. - A pair of Grade 1-winning comebackers, Sligo Bay and Redattore, seem likely to head Saturday's $100,000 Tanforan Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.
Sligo Bay, the 121-pound highweight, is a definite for the race. Redattore, who gets in at 120, will run if an allowance race scheduled for Saturday at Santa Anita doesn't fill. The race did not fill for Friday.
Sligo Bay hasn't run since winning the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup on Nov. 23. Redattore, winner of the Grade 1 Eddie Read in 2001 at Del Mar, has been off since July 28, when he ran third in his attempt to repeat in the Eddie Read.
Six other horses will likely run in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, including Seinne, who won the Grade 2 Arcadia Handicap last April at Santa Anita, and Devine Wind, who finished a neck behind The Tin Man in the Grade 2 American Handicap at Hollywood Park last Fourth of July.
Not For Me and locally based Surprise Halo, Cappucino Kind, and Metatron are also expected to run.
The Tanforan will serve as a prep race for both Sligo Bay and Redattore.
Trainer Beau Greely plans to run Sligo Bay in the March 1 Santa Anita Handicap in his dirt debut. Trainer Richard Mandella is pointing Redattore to either the Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita or the Explosive Bid at the Fair Grounds next month.
"I'm anxious to get a race in him," Mandella said of Redattore. "He's in very good shape. We sent him to Seattle for the Longacres Mile last summer, but he got a temperature. He got sick enough that we sent him to the farm.
"I hate to ship him off to do it, but it could be the only spot. With a $100,000 purse, it's better than just a prep."
Greely considered last weekend's San Antonio as a comeback for Sligo Bay but didn't want to run against Congaree at 1 1/8 miles.
"I think my horse is better at 1 1/4 miles or a mile and a half," said Greely, although he added, the Tanforan's distance "doesn't bother me. I don't think it's the best, by any means. At the same time, coming off a layoff it's good."
Sligo Bay was not taken out of training after winning the Hollywood Turf Cup. Greely said he simply let the 5-year-old horse "relax."
Sligo Bay is 2 for 2, having also won a 1 1/4-mile allowance race at Santa Anita on Oct. 18, after being sent to a farm in Pico Rivera after three subpar races last year.
Greely said that the farm's owner, Bill Wilds, "used [Sligo Bay] as a trail horse and got him doing something entirely different. It was just a change for him. He seemed like his old self when he returned."
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