Snowbirds invade for Charles Town Classic

The Grade 2, $1.2 million Charles Town Classic on Saturday has a distinctly Florida feel. Diversify, War Story, Fear the Cowboy, and You’re to Blame all have headed north from their winter digs in the Sunshine State.

When post positions were drawn Wednesday, race favorite Diversify landed post 6, and likely second choice War Story drew post 5. The seven-horse field also includes the sharp Maryland shippers Afleet Willy (post 7) and Something Awesome (post 4), plus Fear the Cowboy (post 1), Discreet Lover (post 3), and You’re to Blame (post 2).

Diversify and War Story shipped Tuesday but took different routes.

Grade 1 winner Diversify, who will be making his 5-year-old debut for trainer Rick Violette, was flown from South Florida to Newark Liberty International. He was then vanned to the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland so he will have a shorter race-day journey than if he were stabled at Violette’s main base in New York.

Diversify came into his own last summer and won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. In his next and final race of the season, he set the pace but weakened in the stretch and finished fourth in the Grade 1 Clark on Nov. 24 at Churchill Downs.

“He ran hard last year and got a little jammed up in his last start at Churchill,” Violette said. “We gave him an extended vacation, and he’s shown he runs well fresh. This looks like a good spot, and it’s a lot of money.”

Trainer Jorge Navarro sent War Story directly to West Virginia. War Story boarded a van at Navarro’s Gulfstream Park West barn for the approximately 1,100-mile, 16-hour van trip to Charles Town.

Irad Ortiz Jr. has ridden both Diversify and War Story in their recent races, and will stick with Diversify. Javier Castellano, who has an excellent record in the three-turn, 1 1/8-mile Classic, will ride War Story.

In five starts in the Classic, Castellano has three wins and a second. He won the last two editions on Imperative and Stanford and in 2012 with Caixa Eletronica. He finished second on Ea in the inaugural Classic in 2009.

War Story has the advantage of a practice run over the six-furlong Charles Town track. He ran very well in the slop last year to finish third from between horses when beaten two necks by Imperative and Matt King Coal.

“He ran so big there last year and came very close to winning, so that’s why we’re going back,” Navarro said.

War Story tuned up for the Classic with a 5 3/4-length win in the $100,000 Challenger, a 1 1/16-mile race at Tampa Bay Downs.

“We were looking for that kind of race, something not too hard, something he could win,” Navarro said.

War Story won the Grade 2 Brooklyn on Belmont Stakes Day last June. Between that race and the Challenger, he faced Horse of the Year Gun Runner in four straight races. Navarro said to expect a more manageable campaign this year.

“I’ve spoken to the owners,” he said. “This year, we are going to focus on placing him in the right spots. Chasing Gun Runner around was pretty tough.”

Afleet Willy and Something Awesome likely will be overlaid in the betting. Ignore them at your own risk.

Since returning from a five-month freshening in August, Afleet Willy is 5 for 7, all for trainer Claudio Gonzalez. His wins have come around two turns and his losses around one.

“If he breaks good and gets into position, I think he can win,” said Gonzalez, who typically does not talk up his horses.

Something Awesome has won four of his five races since being sent to Jose Corrales by Stronach Stables. The 7-year-old son of Awesome Again was impressive in winning the Harrison Johnson Memorial on March 17 at Laurel Park while stretching out to 1 1/8 miles.

“He’s a very athletic horse, and you can put him wherever you want,” Corrales said. “You need a good driver to make the turns at Charles Town, and we have Edgar Prado. I feel very good about that.”