All eyes will be on Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus this Saturday when he returns from a long summer vacation in the Grade 2, $150,000 Jerome Handicap at Belmont Park.
But he’s not the only star thoroughbred on the card, and the Jerome, for 3-year-olds going a mile, isn’t the only important race.
Albert The Great, fresh off his runner-up effort in the Travers, will be a dangerous foe in the Jerome, as will Hook And Ladder, Big EE and West Coast shipper El Corredor. Postponed, Sun Cat and Left Bank are other possible starters.
The Jerome shares feature status with the Grade 1, $300,000 Vosburgh, one of the year’s most prized sprint events, at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds and up.
Trainer Todd Pletcher saddles the favorite, More Than Ready, who’s coming off his first Grade 1 victory in the King’s Bishop at Saratoga and is unbeaten in seven starts at seven furlongs or under.
And although Pletcher said, “I’d rather not run them against each other,” he’ll likely send Trippi, who has a different owner, in the Vosburgh too.
“We aspire to run in the (six-furlong) Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and we’d rather not run a mile (in the Jerome) and then back up after that,” said Cot Campbell, president of the Dogwood Farm syndicate that owns Trippi. “I think the cast of characters has a lot to do with it. The Vosburgh is plenty tough, but it’s a little better for us than the Jerome. It looks the lesser of the evils.”
Trainer John Kimmel holds a pair of aces with Hook And Ladder making his stakes debut in the Jerome and Successful Appeal in the Vosburgh.
Hook And Ladder has raced just three times, winning by 5½ lengths first out last November at Hollywood Park, finishing a close second in an allowance at Hollywood in July, and then, after he was sold at auction for $800,000 to owner Chester Broman and shipped east, winning his first start for Kimmel Sept. 4 at Saratoga by seven lengths.
“I’m more enthusiastic now that I’ve had a chance to work with the horse,” said Kimmel, who expected Hook And Ladder to command $1 million at the sale. “Any time you see a horse that debuts as a 2-year old and ran a 110 Beyer number, that is very significant. And the Ragozin (sheets) number was also a four. So that’s a very strong figure.
“Obviously the race took some starch out of him because he never made another start until July. When he came back he probably was a little short for that race, but he repeated the 110 Beyer and four Ragozin and came out of the race well.
“When he got to New York, it took him a couple of weeks to find himself, and we breezed him the first time really not knowing what we had. He breezed very well over the training track at Saratoga.
“From that point, he’s just gotten better, sounder, happier. Right now, this is a very, very happy horse that’s ready to throw a big race.”
Kimmel feels that if Hook And Ladder has a chance to upset the Derby winner, Saturday is the time and place.
“With Fusaichi coming off a layoff, and with his goal to run in the Breeders’ Cup at a mile and a quarter, I really don’t feel that Neil (Drysdale, Fusaichi Pegasus’s trainer) is going to ask him for everything,” Kimmel said. “I think he wants to set him up for some races down the road and I don’t think he’s going to have this horse cranked up.
“It’s a really good time for me to meet him because I know my horse is sharp, fit and ready.”
Delaware Township, Istintaj, Iron Punch, Valiant Halory and Western Expression are other Vosburgh candidates.
