Shackleford, Little Mike look ahead to Breeders' Cup

Shackleford, Little Mike look ahead to

Breeders' Cup

While it was not a winning performance, trainer Dale Romans was

pleased with what he saw from stable star Shackleford, who ran second in

Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap by 3 1/2 lengths.

"I wanted to see Shackleford go ahead and win, but I was happy

with his performance because he did show enough to know that he's back and fresh

again," Romans said. "The Met Mile was a tough race and took a lot out of him,

to beat Caleb's Posse. But I think he's back, and it will really help him move

forward for the Breeders' Cup."

It's been an up-and-down year for the 2011 Preakness winner,

starting with seventh and third-place finishes in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at

Gulfstream Park and the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, respectively.

Shackleford shined during the month of May, winning the Grade 2

Churchill Downs Stakes and, in arguably the best performance of his career,

taking a loaded edition of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park by

a nose over Caleb's Posse, with multiple Grade 1 winner To Honor and Serve

checking in third.

Given two months off following that grueling effort, the

four-year-old son of Forestry returned in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in

early August at Saratoga. Drawing the rail for his first attempt at six furlongs

and his first try over a muddy track, Shackleford never factored and finished

eighth.

The Kelso marked his first race in nearly two months, and sets

him up for his final start, the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on November 3 at Santa

Anita.

Another Romans horse likely headed to the Breeders' Cup is

Little Mike, who prompted the pace before fading badly to finish fifth by 28 1/2

lengths in Saturday's 1 1/2-mile Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational.

"Little Mike just did not handle that (yielding) ground at all,"

Romans said. "But he came out of it good, and looks good, so we'll regroup and

head west."

While five of his 11 victories have been at the mile distance,

Little Mike's two Grade 1 wins came in the 1 1/8-mile Woodford Reserve Turf

Classic and the 1 1/4-mile Arlington Million. Romans expressed some concern in

dropping him back in distance for the Breeders' Cup Mile, but seemed to be

leaning in that direction.

"We're going to take Little Mike home and figure out what might

be next," Romans said. "We might try to back up and go to the (Breeders' Cup)

Mile if we can get him to put in a couple of sharp works and show me that he's

going to be quick enough to handle it."

Romans' other entrant in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, the

three-year-old Finnegans Wake, was outrun early and finished fourth by 14 1/2

lengths.

"Finnegans Wake didn't handle the course very well, but he was a

little up against it going against older horses for the first time going a mile

and a half," Romans said. "His best races are ahead of him. He's going to get

better with age."

Another of Romans' three-year-old contingent, Dullahan, worked

five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 over Belmont Park's fast main track Sunday in

preparation for a start in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Jamaica.

"Dullahan worked super this morning; really good," Romans said.

"All systems are go for the Jamaica -- he is ready to roll."

Owned by Donegal Racing, Dullahan will be looking for

back-to-back Grade 1 scores, most recently defeating top older horse Game On

Dude in Del Mar's $1 million Pacific Classic.

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