Rice mulling either Jim Dandy or WV Derby for Kid Cruz after breeze
Rice mulling either Jim Dandy or WV Derby for Kid Cruz
after breeze
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Recent Dwyer winner Kid Cruz may make his Saratoga debut in the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 26, trainer Linda Rice said Sunday morning. The son of Lemon Drop Kid worked five furlongs in 1:03 2/5 over the Spa's fast main track on Sunday. It was his first breeze at Saratoga and since taking the 1 1/16-mile Dwyer by three-quarters of a length on July 5. "He's doing very well and settled in well here," Rice said. "It was an easy breeze. He ran two weeks ago, and we're running him back on three weeks' rest. I just wanted to let him stretch his legs on this track and make sure he's comfortable. "We'll see how he comes out of it and decide where we want to run him. I'm leaning toward the Jim Dandy." Rice is also considering the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park on August 2, which would give Kid Cruz an extra week. The primary summer goal is the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on August 23, a race in which Rice -- the only female ever to win a Saratoga training title when crowned in 2009 -- has never had a starter. "He ran a big race at Belmont in the Dwyer, and I just have to decide if I want to run him back this coming Saturday or the following one. Then, of course, you lose a week on the other end of it," Rice explained.
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"I would
really like to use one of those two races to get to the Travers, which has been
a big dream of mine. I've been racing here at Saratoga for 20-some years, and
that would be an exciting event."
Since being claimed for $50,000 in November 2013, Kid Cruz
has banked $335,400 in six starts. All four of his wins have come in stakes --
the Dwyer and Easy Goer at Belmont and the Federico Tesio and Private Terms
in Maryland -- sandwiched around an eighth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes.
It is not unlike the recent success Rice has had with
Palace, who she claimed for $20,000 in October 2012 and has gone on to win eight
of 15 starts with five seconds, including victories in the True North in
June and Fall Heighweight Handicap in November.
"You claim horses and most of them are not the success
story that Kid Cruz is. Palace was the same kind of success story," Rice said.
"It's kind of a numbers game. We knew pretty soon after we got him that he
looked like he was really headed in the right direction."
Also working Sunday morning for Rice was Grade 2 winner La Verdad, who fired a half-mile bullet of
:47 on the main track, the
fastest of 97 horses at the distance. It was her first work since taking the Dancin Renee at Belmont on July 3, her fourth straight victory.
The Yes It's True filly is 9-1-0 from 11 career starts, and would be perfect in
her last 10 if not for a close second in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap on
February 22.
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