Trace Creek has lots of options after winning Hanshin Cup

The 6-year-old Trace Creek ran a career-best race in upsetting the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup last Saturday at Arlington at odds of 44-1. The first stakes win of his 26-start career behind him, Trace Creek will be pointed to a stakes on turf or synthetic for his next start.

Trace Creek is an Arkansas-bred, meaning his best chance at glory comes annually at Oaklawn Park, a track with no turf course. Trace Creek has run decently there, but judging from his win over Arlington’s Polytrack in the Hanshin and his second-place finish in the 2015 John Connally over the Sam Houston grass course, dirt is probably not Trace Creek’s favorite footing.

“I think his best surface is turf or, I guess you could say now, maybe Polytrack,” said Will Van Meter, the 32-year-old, third-year trainer who, like his horse, scored his first stakes win.

Trace Creek is a homebred owned by John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable and by the sire Harperstown. He was also entered on the Hanshin card in an allowance race, but his connections took a swing for the fences.

“Handicapping the race, it looked winnable,” Van Meter said. “John Ed kind of pushed us into the deeper end of the pool.”

◗ The highest-class fare on Friday’s eight-race program is race 4, carded for 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack and open to $16,000 starter-allowance horses or $30,000 claimers. Trend, the 9-5 morning-line favorite, has never won on a synthetic surface and might be vulnerable.