With stomach issue behind him, Viking ready for Bet on Sunshine

When you, human being, wake up with a little stomachache – no big deal. Maybe you take a mild medication, maybe it just resolves on its own. Regardless, just a blip soon forgotten.

When a Thoroughbred, the morning he’s supposed to race, has a little stomachache – big deal. For starters, the faulty design of the equine digestive system must always be closely monitored, lest a little stomachache turn into a full-blown case of colic. Prompt treatment is essential, and so it was that the 5-year-old gelding Viking did not get to start Oct. 2 in the Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland.

“He was just a little colicky in the morning. He was fine that night, but you have to treat him for the colic,” trainer David Fawkes said. “It broke my heart. It killed me. I loved him there.”

Viking lost nothing in terms of training or fitness, and the way Fawkes sees it, he’ll lead the same horse over for the Bet on Sunshine Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs as the one he expected to run at Keeneland.

The $300,000 Bet on Sunshine, a six-furlong dirt dash for older horses, proved wildly popular on entry day: Viking’s one of 13 entrants. He’s 6-1 on the morning line – Tyler Gaffalione named to ride – which could prove higher than realistic if Viking is doing as well now as he was over the summer in Florida.

Fawkes only took over his training this past spring, and Viking turned in peak performances in his two races for Fawkes, the Smile Sprint at six furlongs in July and a one-turn mile handicap in August. Viking has speed in a race that came up surprisingly light on pace players.

“He’s come back and worked great. Tyler worked him and loved him,” Fawkes said. “Hopefully, he’s same horse as he was before.”

The line sets Obliteration as the 7-2 favorite, which makes sense: He’s run in the best races and has a couple triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures that would swamp this group. Obliteration has shown pressing speed in many of his outings but wound up eighth of 10 in the early and middle stages of the Perryville Stakes last month at Keeneland. That race fell apart late, and Obliteration, without finishing especially well, was third by a neck. His trainer, Steve Asmussen, believes that when Obliteration settled early in the Perryville, he relaxed too much. Expect jockey Luis Saez to put him in the game sooner Saturday.

“I thought he ran a good race in the Perryville, and he came out of it in good shape,” Asmussen said.

Greenwich Village hasn’t raced since May 2, comes out of turf routes, never has faced older horses, and has speed figures far below what it will take to win the Bet on Sunshine – yet is 9-2 on the line, presumably because Jose Ortiz rides for Bob Baffert and because the colt has worked well.

C K Wonder, on the other hand, just ran well. He wore down a very well-intended horse named Autodrive winning a third-level dirt sprint allowance Oct. 3 at Keeneland. His Beyer Speed Figure came back a career-best 97, which tracks with the 10 1/2 lengths separating Autodrive from the third-place finisher.

Viking can wake up feeling good Saturday and run his race – and C K Wonder might still beat him.