Top Striker back on flat in H. Allen Jerkens Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The biggest question mark for most of the field in Saturday’s two-mile H. Allen Jerkens Stakes is whether they can stay the distance. But distance is clearly not an issue for a veteran steeplechaser like Top Striker, who returns to the flat off the best performance of his career, a 10-length victory in the prestigious Colonial Cup at Camden.

The 7-year-old Top Striker is trained by Archibald Kingsley Jr., who said he attempted to give the gelding a break after he defeated Rawnaq in the Nov. 19 Colonial Cup.

“We intended to wind him down for the offseason, but he has not liked the idea,” said Kingsley. “He’s been training forwardly and on the bridle ever since, so we started to look for another race, and the Allen Jerkens was on the radar. One thing I’m confident about is that he won’t have any problem getting the distance.”

Kingsley has done a remarkable job this season with Top Striker, who came back from a 17-month layoff and a tendon injury to have the best year of his life.

Top Striker captured a Grade 2 race over the jumps four weeks prior to his victory in the 2 3/4-mile Colonial Cup. He has won twice on the flat, including a one-mile allowance race over the local turf course in 2013. He has made one start on the flat this year, finishing seventh going a mere 1 1/16 miles under allowance conditions this summer at Laurel.

“They went the opening half in 49 and change, and he was four lengths back at that point, then came home in 45, and he gets beat less than five lengths for everything after getting hung wide to boot,” said Kingsley.

“His only bad race was the first one coming back from the long layoff, and he needed that one,” Kingsley said of Top Striker’s fourth-place finish in the Temple Gwathmey hurdle, won by Rawnaq. “He’s improved with every start ever since.”

Despite the horse’s impressive effort in the Colonial Cup, Kingsley said he’s doubtful that Top Striker will be named steeplechase champion for 2016.

“The horse he beat that day, Rawnaq, has already won two Grade 1’s this year and would have been 1-9 if there had been parimutuel wagering that day,” said Kingsley. “I expect he’ll win the Eclipse. I feel we had a home-field advantage being based at Camden, and I sure wish there was parimutuel wagering on the Colonial Cup because he’d have been a big price, and I loved my horse the way he came into that race.”

Kingsley said Jose Lezcano will ride Top Striker in the Allen Jerkens.

A full field is shaping up for the Jerkens, the longest stakes race of the local season. Possibles include English Illusion, Generous Kitten, Made in Detroit, Manchurian High, Montclair, Quiet Force, Spanish Squeeze, Taghleeb, and Tobias.

The Allen Jerkens is one of four turf stakes races here Saturday, along with the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby; its filly counterpart, the $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks; and the $75,000 Via Borghese.