Wellabled, Dac bring contrasting styles to Forego Stakes

After bitter cold for much of this month in Kentucky, the weather at Turfway Park on Friday evening might feel like a relative heat wave, with temperatures expected to be in the mid-30s. And fittingly, the racing action also is heating up at the track, with the $50,000 Forego Stakes headlining the card and having drawn a field of 12, led by Wellabled and Dac, multiple stakes winners on synthetic tracks.

Favored at 3-1 on the morning line and likely to drop lower by post time is Wellabled, who is 4 for 5 on synthetic surfaces, including victories in the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity in 2016 and the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile at Presque Isle Downs later that year.

Although the 6 1/2-furlong Forego has a number of speed horses, none seems as quick early as Wellabled, who has led at the first call in seven of eight career starts, including in his first spin over the Turfway Park surface, a 3 1/4-length victory over allowance rivals Dec. 16. He then returned to Florida, where he worked a bullet half-mile at Palm Meadows in 47.60 seconds on Dec. 31.

Jose Valdivia Jr. rides the 4-year-old son of Shackleford for trainer Larry Rivelli and owner Carolyn Wilson.

Dac likely will need a rival to soften up Wellabled if he is to succeed. A closer accustomed to routing, he finished fourth, beaten a length, when rallying belatedly in this race last year. He won the 1 1/16-mile Prairie Bayou at Turfway in 2015 and 2016 before a runner-up finish in that race last month.

Dangerous as a new shooter to Turfway is Chiltern Street, a six-length winner of a second-level allowance sprinting on grass at Keeneland on Oct. 25. He has raced exclusively on grass in 16 career races, but is by Giant’s Causeway, whose progeny has excelled on synthetic surfaces. Owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, he is trained by Wesley Ward, who is 16-4-3-5 with starters in ungraded stakes at Turfway over the past five years.

Others who could threaten include Heartwood, eighth at 52-1 odds after pushing the pace in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita on Dec. 26; Lanier, second to Turfway standout Royal Son in a money allowance Nov. 30; and Fast and Accurate, whose career highlight was an upset victory in the 2017 Spiral Stakes at Turfway.