Speaker's Corner bids for return to form in Ack Ack

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s not a Flightline in the Ack Ack. Not a Life Is Good in there, either.

Those two heavyheads help to partly clarify the three-race losing streak that Speaker’s Corner brings Saturday to the Grade 3, $300,000 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs, but it’s the most recent defeat for the Godolphin homebred that has no easy explanation. A fading fourth as an 11-10 favorite in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien five weeks ago at Del Mar, Speaker’s Corner might have been a little too keen after shipping cross-country when failing to display the brilliance that had made him one of the top milers on the continent during the first half of 2022.

Victories in three straight early season graded races, each with a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure, remain the career highlights for Speaker’s Corner, one of 10 older horses in the 30th Ack Ack, a one-turn mile offering a Win and You’re In berth toward the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Whether the 4-year-old Street Sense colt can return to top form is the central question in what shapes up as a competitive prep toward that Nov. 5 race at Keeneland.

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Speaker’s Corner, with Junior Alvarado in from New York to ride, will break from post 1 and is sure to be favored for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Although he did earn decent Beyers in his last three starts – he was third to Flightline in the Met Mile and second to Life Is Good in the John Nerud before his Del Mar disappointment – it’s his 114 Beyer from a rousing triumph in the Grade 1 Carter at Aqueduct in April that still resonates.

Three timed workouts over the Saratoga training track followed the Pat O’Brien for Speaker’s Corner, who arrived here early Wednesday in the company of stablemate Art Collector. A well-calculated ride from Alvarado from the tricky rail slot definitely will help in a race that could make the colt one of the top contenders for the BC Dirt Mile.

If Speaker’s Corner is to be toppled again, there is no shortage of capable upsetters.

That opposition includes Fulsome (post 3, Florent Geroux), a Juddmonte Farms homebred with eight wins, including six in stakes, from just 14 starts; Untreated (post 2, John Velazquez), turning back in distance for Todd Pletcher following respectable efforts in the Pimlico Special, Suburban, and Jockey Club Gold Cup; Surly Furious (post 4, Luis Saez), a last-out winner of the Presque Isle Downs Mile; Silver Prospector (post 6, Ricardo Santana Jr.), the leading earner in the lineup with nearly $1.3 million from 23 starts; and Twilight Blue (post 10, Brian Hernandez Jr.), a gutsy winner of the 1 3/16-mile Fort Larned here Aug. 13 on the Arlington Million undercard.

Fulsome, a stretch-runner trained by Brad Cox, has to be considered the main danger. A last-out winner of the Grade 3 West Virginia Governor’s at Mountaineer, the 4-year-old Into Mischief colt “always seems to fire when we have him in the right spot,” Cox said. “Hopefully, he’s ready for another big one.”

The Ack Ack, named for the first-ever Horse of the Year under the Eclipse Awards format initiated in 1971, directly precedes the featured Lukas Classic as the ninth of 11 races.

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