Sporting Chance targets Breeders' Futurity; Free Drop Billy eyes Champagne

ELMONT, N.Y. – Sporting Chance and Free Drop Billy, separated by a neck in an eventful finish to Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, are likely to go their separate ways for their next start, with the goal being a potential rematch in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

Sporting Chance, who under Luis Saez ducked out sharply in deep stretch but recovered in time to still win the Hopeful, was scheduled to ship back to Churchill Downs on Thursday. He will make his next start in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 7, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Free Drop Billy was already back at Churchill on Wednesday. Trainer Dale Romans said the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont on Oct. 7 most likely will be Free Drop Billy’s next start. Romans is fortunate to have two other top juvenile prospects in Dak Attack and Hollywood Star.

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Dak Attack, who beat Sporting Chance first time out at Churchill in June and won the Ellis Park Juvenile, is pointing to the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 16. Hollywood Star, second in the Saratoga Special on Aug. 13, is pointing to the Breeders’ Futurity.

Sporting Chance gave Lukas his eighth victory in the Hopeful. Though his prior seven winners all lost the Champagne, that’s not the reason Lukas is not running Sporting Chance in that one-turn-mile race. Lukas said he wants to get a two-turn race into Sporting Chance in his last start before the Breeders’ Cup, and the Breeders’ Futurity, at 1 1/16 miles, fits the bill. Lukas has won the Breeders’ Futurity six times.

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Sporting Chance was seemingly well on his way to a comfortable victory in the Hopeful when he ducked out sharply from Saez’s left-handed whip. Saez, who said he almost fell off Sporting Chance, straightened the horse out and they managed to win by a neck.

“We never hit him like that left-handed, and I think we just surprised him,” Lukas said. “I don’t think that’s an issue at all.”

Sporting Chance ran seven furlongs in 1:23.71 and earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure in the Hopeful.