Speaking Scout back at site of biggest win for the Hollywood Turf Cup

In 21 starts, the Maryland-based gelding Speaking Scout has started at 13 tracks nationwide, winning four times.

Through his extensive travels, Speaking Scout’s lone start at Del Mar has been a career-defining performance – a win in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last November.

Speaking Scout’s second start at Del Mar, in Friday’s Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles, may determine his 2024 season.

Trained by Graham Motion for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Speaking Scout will start at 1 1/2 miles for the first time in the $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup, which drew a field of eight. Success on Friday could lead to more turf marathons next year.

“We’ve always questioned what his distance is and how far he wants to go,” Motion said. “I think on a firm turf course at Del Mar, he should handle it there.”

Speaking Scout, who starts from the outside post, is winless in seven starts this year, including a troubled third in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 1.

Speaking Scout closed from seventh in a field of eight despite racing in traffic on the turn and in early stretch. He finished 1 3/4 lengths behind Balladeer, who led throughout.

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Jockey Juan Hernandez rode Speaking Scout in the Hollywood Derby last year and regains the mount for the first time since that race on Friday.

“I’m tickled to have Hernandez on him,” Motion said.

Speaking Scout will race from off the pace.

“The important thing is that he settles,” Motion said.

Balladeer is part of the Hollywood Turf Cup field along with such notable runners as Francesco Clemente, the promising winner of an allowance race at the Belmont at Aqueduct meeting on Oct. 19; Lukka, a two-time Group 1 winner in Chile in April and May; and Planetario, the winner of the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in June but who is winless in his last three starts.

Balladeer finished ninth of 11 in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at 1 1/2 miles at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, setting the pace before fading in early stretch.

“He came out of the Breeders’ Cup race pretty good,” trainer George Papaprodromou said. “The Breeders’ Cup was a tough race, obviously. We got to run against the best horses in the world.”

The BC Turf was Balladeer’s first start at 1 1/2 miles, a distance that Papaprodromou insists will work for the four-time winner.

“I think it’s within his reach,” Papapaprodromou said. “We know he can go long. Hopefully, he can get an easy lead and we’ll go from there. I think I’ll be the only speed.”

Lukka earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf for his nose win in a Group 1 at about 1 1/4 miles on turf in Chile in May, but was not pre-entered. Now trained by Neil Drysdale, Lukka has had a steady pattern of workouts in Southern California since late August in advance of his American debut on Friday.

Planetario was considered a BC Turf candidate in late summer, but a fourth-place finish in the John Henry Turf Championship ended that plan. Instead, the Hollywood Turf Cup became a late autumn focus.

“I think the little time between races has helped him,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “He’s 100 percent.”

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Francesco Clemente, a winner of 4 of 7 starts in Britain and the United States, will have his graded stakes debut in the Hollywood Turf Cup. Trained by Chad Brown, Francesco Clemente was fourth in an allowance race at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Aqueduct on Sept. 21 in his American debut, then followed up with a win in an allowance race at 1 3/8 miles last month.

“The first time I ran him, he was a bit short, fitness-wise,” Brown said. “He wasn’t ready, so it was an error on my part. For the second start, I put a little blinker on him.

“He has a lot of potential. He’s had plenty of foundation. It’s not quite ideal to ship across the country for something that is not a Grade 1, but he deserves to run in a race like this.”

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