Work All Week targets Smile Sprint Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The champ is coming to Gulfstream Park.

Reigning sprint champion Work All Week is targeting the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap for his next start July 5, trainer Roger Brueggemann said Friday.

Work All Week, who clinched an Eclipse Award with his victory over Secret Circle and Private Zone in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will make his second start of the season in the six-furlong Smile Sprint. Work All Week finished second behind Alsvid following an unlucky start in the Grade 3 Aristides when launching his 2015 campaign May 30 at Churchill Downs.

“The start didn’t help him,” said Brueggemann, who currently has Work All Week stabled at the Trackside training center near Churchill Downs. “He was hung three wide the entire race, but I’m not making any excuses. He just got beat.”

Brueggemann said one reason he chose the Smile Sprint for Work All Week’s next start is because it’s a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“We’d like to get a Win and You’re In race under our belt early, then we can kind of work out our schedule to the Breeders’ Cup from there,” said Brueggemann. “We got a late start to the season primarily because of the bad weather they had at Oaklawn this winter. It kept delaying our bringing him in off the farm. It’s certainly hard to win the Breeders’ Cup two years in a row, but he’s the same horse he was last year. We just have to get him there the same way we did a year ago.”

Work All Week likely will have the chance to avenge his setback at the hands of Alsvid as trainer Chris Hartman said Friday that Alsvid also is pointing for the Smile Sprint. Alsvid registered his third straight victory and his second straight Grade 3 win with his victory over Work All Week in the Aristides.

“That was a pretty good feeling, beating the champion like that,” said Hartman. “It took a huge effort from our horse.”

Hartman credited jockey Chris Landeros for much of Alsvid’s recent success.

“We freshened him up, he came back to us in great shape, and Chris has made a lot of difference since he’s become his rider,” said Hartman. “He’s able to get him to do things a lot of other guys can’t.”

The Smile Sprint might get even saltier if Private Zone joins the fray. Trainer Jorge Navarro said Friday that the three-time Grade 1 winner was all but definite for the race, although later that day, he hedged just a bit, saying stable manager Rene Douglas also was considering the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint Championship on July 4.

Private Zone finished a game second in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap this winter and won the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Sprint before finishing third behind nemesis Honor Code’s brilliant performance in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day.

“We did all the dirty work in the Met, although I’m not taking anything away from the winner. He made an amazing move,” said Navarro. “Our horse came out of the race 100 percent. He’s doing super, and the way he’s training, I’m leaning toward going back to Florida, although we do have a second option. The race sounds like it’s coming up tough, but it’s certainly no stronger than the one we just came out of, and I believe I have the best sprinter in the country right now.”

Trainer David Jacobson already has committed the multiple graded stakes winner Salutos Amigos to the Smile Sprint. Nominations for the Smile Sprint and all Summit of Speed races close Sunday.

Face of Winner in allowance

The promising Face of Winner required six starts to win his maiden. He may need only one more to win his entry-level allowance condition when he returns against nine rivals in Sunday’s $40,000 allowance feature at a mile on the main track.

Face of Winner drew away to a 14 3/4-length victory to earn his diploma May 24, receiving a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure. Like Sunday’s headliner, that race was at a mile.

Face of Winner will face a field of more-experienced rivals, including Capital City, who already has seven victories on his résumé, and Pass Key, with five career tallies to his credit. Niche, Charge, Rich Daddy, and Native Gold also are among the key contenders.