Straight Fire to answer key question in FrontRunner

There is no debate that Straight Fire is fast. There is, however, some question over his stamina – a question that figures to be answered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita.

How Straight Fire answers that question will determine whether he becomes a major player or a spectator for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.

Straight Fire, a son of Dominus trained by Keith Desormeaux, has participated in the two fastest juvenile races run this year. On July 17 at Del Mar, Straight Fire finished second, 5 1/4 lengths behind Chasing Aces, whose 101 Beyer Speed Figure is the highest achieved by a 2-year-old male this year. Sadly, Chasing Aces was euthanized due to injuries suffered in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.

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Twenty days later, Straight Fire won his maiden by 10 1/2 lengths in an impressive manner, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.94 and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.

“I’m still processing it myself,” Desormeaux said. “I never had a horse run that fast seemingly do it without effort.”

Straight Fire came back a month later in the Del Mar Futurity and set the pace but was overtaken by Klimt, who went on to win by 4 1/4 lengths.

The Del Mar Futurity was run at seven furlongs, and the FrontRunner is at 1 1/16 miles.

“I’m going to chalk that last race up to maybe a bounce,” Desormeaux said. “Maybe his first race was really fast, his second race even faster, and that third race he may have regressed because we asked him to do a lot at that meet. If that’s the case and he finishes decently at a mile and a sixteenth, it’s going to be something to behold.”

Others entered in the FrontRunner were Gormley, Midnight Pleasure, Plum Dandy, Secret House, and Vibe, who is a maiden trained by Desormeaux.

In the FrontRunner, Straight Fire will once again face Klimt, who has won three consecutive races since losing his debut. Klimt is trained by Bob Baffert, who has won the FrontRunner seven times, including in 2014 with American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner. Last year’s FrontRunner winner, Nyquist, won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and this year’s Kentucky Derby.

The FrontRunner offers a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The $500,000 In Reality Stakes, part of the Florida Sire Stakes series at Gulfstream Park, does not. However, Three Rules will look to pay his own way to the Breeders’ Cup in the In Reality.

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Three Rules, a son of Gone Astray, has won his first four starts by a combined 21 lengths. This will be his first try around two turns, but trainer Jose Pinchin believes the horse can handle it.

Three Rules was entered against 11 rivals in Saturday’s In Reality, with the toughest rival perhaps being Front Loaded, who is also trained by Pinchin.

On Oct. 8, two Grade 1 races, the Champagne at Belmont and the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, will help determine the remainder of the Juvenile field. Among those expected for the Champagne are Hopeful winner Practical Joke, his stablemate Favorable Outcome, Syndergaard, Lookin at Blessing, the Baffert-trained Big Gray Rocket, and possibly Bitumen and Reckling.

Among those pointing to the Breeders’ Futurity are Blame Will, Classic Empire, Gunnevera, Honor Thy Father, Singing Bullet, and Tiz Trevor.

◗ Royal Copy came out of his runner-up finish in the Hopeful with a chip in his ankle, according to trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The chip has been removed, and Royal Copy is three weeks into a 90-day period where he will be out of training.