Stage Raider ups the ante in Ack Ack Stakes
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The well-bred and well-regarded Stage Raider finally found center stage when he earned his first career stakes win last month at Ellis Park. He looks to keep that spotlight as he faces stiffer competition in the Grade 3, $400,000 Ack Ack Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
The Ack Ack, a Win and You’re In event toward the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in November at Santa Anita, is a one-turn mile, run out of the chute at Churchill Downs. Stage Raider also won at a mile while taking the R.A. “Cowboy” Jones Stakes on Aug. 13, splitting horses and clearing late to win by two lengths. The configuration of Ellis means that mile dirt races are run around 1 1/2 turns, racing through the clubhouse turn before swinging left onto the backstretch. Still, Stage Raider earned two of his first three career wins at a straightforward one-turn configuration, and trainer Cherie DeVaux wanted to stay local with the horse, who is based at Keeneland.
“We really weren’t wanting to ship him anywhere,” she said. “We can keep him in the same routine basically until the day before the race, when he’ll have his normal day and then ship. We did the same thing at Ellis. We’re trying to minimize as much change for him as we can.”
Settling into a routine has been key with Stage Raider, the 5-year-old half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify. The son of Pioneerof the Nile won three of his first nine starts – a maiden special weight and two allowance-level events – racing for Chad Brown before breeder Glennwood Farm moved the horse to DeVaux this year. The trainer noted that the ability to have turnout at his Keeneland base has been one factor in his step forward.
“I would describe him as being a bit quirky,” DeVaux said. “He’s not bad. We’ve just got him into a routine that he seems to like. He gets turned out in the morning before he trains. He has to have his set routine at the same time, or he just gets anxious in his stall. That’s been the main thing – we’ve just got him into a routine that he seems to like. And the one thing we learned early on with him is you really can’t fight with him. He doesn’t agree with that.”
Brian Hernandez Jr. rode Stage Raider for the first time at Ellis and indicated that he also tried to avoid getting into arguments with the horse, keeping him happy racing in the vanguard before finding a seam in the lane. DeVaux is hoping for a similar trip for the pair.
“He seems to be pretty straightforward in his races,” she said. “He was fine to sit behind horses and split horses, so probably just hoping it ends up the same complexion of his last race.”
The pace should come from Zozos, who doesn’t seem to have much committed competition on the front end as he returns to a distance he relishes. The colt won three straight earlier this year for Brad Cox, including the Knicks Go at this one-turn mile at Churchill and then the Hanshin Cup going a mile at Ellis. Last time out, he set the pace in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin at Monmouth before fading to fourth in the 1 1/16-mile race.
O Besos will be making Zozos his target. A creditable, closing fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, O Besos made his first start since the Breeders’ Cup in the Jeff Hall in July at Ellis for Greg Foley, going 6 1/2 furlongs. He ground out a rally to finish second by a neck and is likely to be tighter for his second start off the bench.
Three Technique, the 2022 Knicks Go winner and third this year, is coming off a career-best effort to win the Grade 2 John A. Nerud going seven furlongs at Belmont.
Seize the Night was third in the Cowboy Jones for D. Wayne Lukas. He is making his first start for the recently licensed Jade Cunningham, a former employee of Lukas and Dallas Stewart. Graded stakes-placed Caddo River, trained by Lukas, and Skyro, making his first start since January, complete the field.
In addition to Stage Raider in the Ack Ack, DeVaux has a key contender in More Than Looks in the $200,000 Jefferson Cup for 3-year-olds going a mile on the turf.
More Than Looks has faced solid competition in this division, in a campaign highlighted by a win in the Grade 3 Manila at a mile on the Belmont turf. Runner-up Talk of the Nation came back to win the Gun Runner at Kentucky Downs, while multiple stakes winner Nagirroc finished third. More Than Looks then finished third in the Grade 3 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at Saratoga behind Carl Spackler, who came back to add the Grade 3 Saranac.
More Than Looks earned Beyer Speed Figures of 94 and 93, respectively, in those two races. Matching him with the best last-out figures is Noises Off, who is making his stakes debut after earning a 94 for a 6 3/4-length maiden win at a mile at Kentucky Downs.
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