Turfway Prevue may be too short for Bluegrass Dreamer

Bluegrass Dreamer has the qualifications to win Saturday’s $50,000 Turfway Prevue for 3-year-olds at Turfway Park, having won a maiden race at Woodbine and having been sixth there in the $152,000 Display Stakes in his last start Nov. 28. He has the pedigree, too, being a son of Grade 1 Haskell winner Bluegrass Cat and a half-brother to a pair of European group winners, including Dr. Fong, winner of the prestigious Group 1 St. James’s Palace at Ascot.

What he might not have is enough distance to suit him. The Turfway Prevue is a 6 1/2-furlong dash on the track’s synthetic Polytrack surface, and all four starts of Bluegrass Dreamer’s career have come in longer races. His lone victory was at a mile and 70 yards when racing two turns.

That fact isn’t lost on Richard Budge, who trains Bluegrass Dream for WinStar Farm at the track’s training center in central Kentucky.

“I like the way he’s been training recently, but he probably needs a mile-plus,” Budge said Thursday.

Seeking to offset the disadvantage of cutting back in distance as well as improving the colt’s focus, blinkers are being added for the Turfway Prevue.

“I look forward to seeing a good race,” he said.

Hot-riding apprentice Marcelino Pedroza has the mount, although under the rules of stakes races, Bluegrass Prince will not be in receipt of the standard weight allowance that traditionally comes when an apprentice rider is aboard.

Inhisglory and Tale of Lucknfame, first and third, respectively, in a first-level allowance Dec. 26 at Turfway – are the ones Bluegrass Prince will need to catch to win. However, they return on 13 days’ rest, a quick turnaround that puts them at risk of regression.

Of the two, the race seems to set up more in favor of Inhisglory. There are at least four legitimate speed horses in the lineup, including Tale of Lucknfame. Tale of Lucknfame has drawn on the fence and could end up pressured and pinned inside.

Inhisglory, purchased privately since his last start by Peter Redekop BC Ltd., drew better in post 5, a position from which he should be able to carve out a favorable stalking trip.

The dark horse is 3-for-5 runner Zorro Veloz, a Peruvian invader who makes his first start in the United States.