Wicked Strong to make turf debut in Forbidden Apple

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wicked Strong did not find a soft spot in which to make his turf debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont Park.

Among his seven rivals in the one-mile overnight stakes are King Kreesa, a two-time Grade 3 Poker Stakes winner; Reload, undefeated in three turf tries; Grand Arch, a Grade 2 winner; Aztec Brave, a listed stakes winner at Aqueduct; and Vyjack, a respectable second in his turf debut in the Poker. Howe Great and Choctaw Chuck complete the field.

Wicked Strong, the winner of the 2014 Wood Memorial and Jim Dandy Stakes, is seeking to change his fortunes, having not won a race in nearly a year. He is winless in three starts this year, including a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 6.

“I know he got creamed leaving there, but he didn’t really look like he was getting into it after that,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said about the Met Mile. “I don’t really know what that was about.”

Jerkens said this turf race is “something we’re trying to get him going.”

“It doesn’t seem like he has quite the competitive spirit he had last year, for some reason,” Jerkens said.

Wicked Strong was beaten only a length in the Gulfstream Park Handicap in March to begin his year. He broke out in skin disease just prior to his third-place finish to stablemate Effinex in the Grade 3 Excelsior in April.

Though Wicked Strong is trying turf Saturday, it won’t preclude him from running in the Grade 1 Whitney on the main track at Saratoga on Aug. 8, Jerkens said.

“Even if he runs great on it, I wouldn’t hesitate to put him back on the dirt,” Jerkens said. “It’s a race that shouldn’t take a lot out of him. They do say – and it’s probably true – the turf races probably do take a little less out of them.”

Wicked Strong, who drew post 6 in the eight-horse field, is also reuniting with Rajiv Maragh for the Forbidden Apple. Maragh was his regular rider before being replaced by Joel Rosario for the Met Mile.