Storm Treasure will be closing fast

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Storm Treasure, the third-place finisher in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, will take part in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Kennedy Road Stakes at Woodbine, where his main obstacle might be the six-furlong distance.

Storm Treasure, trained by Steve Asmussen, rallied wide from far back to end up 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner last time out in the BC Turf Sprint at Santa Anita Oct. 25. He was second in a six-furlong allowance on the Polytrack following a layoff here Sept. 6, and followed that with a close fifth-place finish on turf in the Gradeo2 Nearctic Stakes.

Jockey Jim McAleney was dazzled by Storm Treasure's stretch run in the six-furlong Nearctic.

"When I rode him in the Nearctic, he might have run down the lane faster than any horse I've ever ridden," McAleney said. "If it was six and a half, we would have been in front by three by the time we hit the wire.

"He ran really well in California. If everybody didn't fan out at the head of the stretch, he might have gotten the job done there. He's a super-nice horse, with a huge turn of foot."

McAleney believes Storm Treasure prefers longer sprints than three-quarters of a mile.

"We're handicapped with the distance," he said, "but if I have him within seven lengths of the lead at the half-mile pole, even without a ton of speed in the race, you can just about think that we're going to get it done."

Just Rushing is at the end of a lucrative campaign, during which he won the Grade 2 Play the King Stakes, and was third in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

Just Rushing ran a determined race most recently over yielding turf in the Labeeb Stakes. He pressed a slow pace along the inside, dropped back, then came back on in the stretch to win by a neck.

"He should never have won that race," said Attard. "He doesn't like the soft going, but he just doesn't like to get beat. He loves to win."

Attard said Just Rushing has trained brilliantly heading into the Kennedy Road, in which he wound up third last year after breaking from post 1.

"He's doing very well," said Attard. "We're going to see a good race out of him."

Legal Move won the allowance prep for the Kennedy Road before selling for $245,000 at the Keeneland November sale to owner Bruno Schickedanz. His new trainer is Mark Fournier.