Yockey's Warrior ready to climb, but has nowhere to go

Yockey’s Warrior may have found the best form of his career, and the Beyer Speed Figure the 4-year-old earned in winning the $75,000 Thanksgiving Handicap on Thursday at Fair Grounds supports that.

Yockey’s Warrior got a career-best 103 Beyer for running six furlongs in 1:09.23 while beating Clearly Now by 2 1/4 lengths in the Thanksgiving. The strong showing came about six weeks after Yockey’s Warrior decisively won a third-level, dirt-sprint allowance race at Fair Grounds. Moreover, Yockey’s Warrior and jockey Miguel Mena ran stride for stride through upper stretch with the good sprinter Union Jackson, leaving him behind in the final furlong.

“He’s never had to run alongside a horse that fought back like Union Jackson did and go on like that,” said trainer Al Stall, who is among the partners who own Yockey’s Warrior. “Miguel grabbed him the last 20 yards.”

This would be a great time to let Yockey’s Warrior take another step up the class ladder. Alas, there are no obvious spots in the near future.

“I honestly have no idea what we do next,” Stall said. “The cupboard is a little bare around here, really.”

The Fair Grounds sprint races for older males alternate between turf and dirt, and there are no six-figure dirt sprints the entire season. Oaklawn Park’s schedule within the division is better, but the first race there isn’t until late January and is worth only $100,000.

“We’ll enjoy it for now and figure it out later,” Stall said.

After three race days of the Fair Grounds meet, Stall has found plenty of enjoyment, with a record of 8-5-2-1-0. And there are more troops on the way soon from Kentucky, including two talented 3-year-olds coming back from layoffs, Forevamo and Tom’s d’Etat.

Forevamo finished second in the Risen Star last February at Fair Grounds and was second in the Pat Day Mile in May at Churchill Downs but hasn’t raced since a flat sixth-place finish Aug. 6 in the West Virginia Derby. He’s been training at WinStar Farm, Stall said, and will be shipped to Fair Grounds next week.

On the same van will be Tom’s d’Etat, who in his third career start won a nine-furlong Saratoga maiden race by four lengths, earning an 89 Beyer. The Smart Strike colt went on the shelf after being diagnosed with cannon-bone bruising following a Sept. 10 workout.

Fillies featured Sunday

First-level dirt-sprint allowance races restricted to females, one for 2-year-olds, the other for older horses, are the highest-class fare on Sunday’s nine-race program.

Race 6, for 2-year-olds, is likely to have Hotshot Anna as a solid favorite. After a modest career debut over Arlington’s Polytrack, she romped to victory while never asked to run Sept. 17 at Canterbury Park. Her owner and trainer, Hugh Robertson, had a good early-meet run with the talented 2-year-old Loveable Lyss at about this time last year at Fair Grounds.

Limitless could be an even shorter price in race 8, the sprint for older fillies. She is trained by Larry Jones and will be ridden by Florent Geroux, last year’s leading Fair Grounds rider who is just settling in for this meet. Limitless won her debut last March at Fair Grounds by more than four lengths while bet to even-money favoritism. She faded to second when stretched from six furlongs to a little more than seven in April at Keeneland and just now returns to the races.

Her chief challenger might be another layoff horse, Vickie Wins, who showed some ability during the first half of the season at Oaklawn and Churchill for trainer Steve Asmussen.