Tagg lowers his goals for Showing Up

ELMONT, N.Y. - After scrapping plans to run in a Breeders' Cup race with Showing Up, trainer Barclay Tagg has mapped out a new schedule that begins in Saturday's Grade 2, $300,000 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park.

Tagg was considering both the $3 million BC Turf and the $2 million BC Mile for Showing Up, who owns grass wins in the Colonial Turf Cup and the Grade 1 Secretariat. But after Showing Up finished third to Cacique in the Man o' War and after watching the results of prep races for the BC Mile, Tagg opted to take a more conservative route. Showing Up will now target the Jamaica and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 26, both races restricted to 3-year-olds.

"The Breeders' Cup races are too tough this year, either of them,'' Tagg said. "He's only a 3-year-old. There are a couple of good 3-year-old races left. Hopefully, he can win them. Finishing third in a Breeders' Cup, either one, isn't going to do me a bit of good with the horse; it's not going to make him a champion, it's not going to make me rich enough to retire.''

No matter what the condition of the turf course, it shouldn't affect Showing Up, according to Tagg.

"He seems to handle soft turf as well as he does hard turf,'' Tagg said.

Outperformance, trained by the white-hot Rick Violette, could be the major threat to Showing Up. Outperformance finished six lengths behind Showing Up in the Colonial Turf Cup. Outperformance gets nine pounds from Showing Up and has won 2 of 3 turf starts, the Hill Prince and a second-level allowance race Sept. 9.

"I think we're a better horse than when we hooked him in Virginia,'' said Violette, who won two races on Thursday and is now 11 for 29 at the meet. "We ran back in two weeks; it was probably a mistake. We also didn't ride him the way we know we should ride him now. He's got a huge late kick and we really didn't use that down there.''

Outperformance breaks from post 6 under Javier Castellano.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin sends out the uncoupled entry of Carnera and Spider Power. Carnera sandwiched second-place finishes behind After Market and Brilliant in graded stakes around a win in the A in Sociology Stakes at Saratoga.

Spider Power finished second behind Outperformance in the Hill Prince and second to After Market in the Hall of Fame. He also beat Outperformance in an allowance race over soft ground at Belmont.

Kip Deville, who finished second to Showing Up in the Colonial Turf Cup, is entered here and in the $150,000 Bryan Station Stakes for 3-year-olds Sunday at Keeneland.