Sprint Diary

SPRINT DIARY

JUNE 23, 2006

by Jordan Strickler

Belmont Day proved an excellent day for sprinters. Both the True

North H. (G2) and Woody Stephens Breeders' Cup S. (G2), although contested over

a track which had shown a speed bias all day, were won by horses who proved that

they can be a threat in the sprinting division this year.

ANEW (Awesome Again) jumped to the early lead of the True North

and was never headed en route to a 3 1/2-length victory. Ordinarily, I might

overlook this wire-to-wire trip since it was run over a track which played fast

all day, but when defeating rivals such as confirmed speedster and Grade 2 hero

SPANISH CHESTNUT (Horse Chestnut [SAf]) and Bold Ruler H. (G3) winner TIGER

(Storm Boot), I believe he deserves a mention.

In the Woody Stephens, SONGSTER (Songandaprayer) backed up his

10-length decision in the Hirsch Jacobs S. (G3) as the black colt rated in

second for much of the seven-furlong affair before drawing clear in upper

stretch to win by two lengths. TOO MUCH BLING (Rubiano), who got stuck on the

rail in the lane, finished a solid second.

LUCKY J. H. (Cee's Tizzy) earned his second stakes victory of

his four-year-old season on June 10 when annexing the 7 1/2-furlong Ack Ack H. (G3) over Grade

1 winner CAPTAIN SQUIRE (Flying Chevron). The Carla Gaines trainee is little

known outside of Southern California, where the bay has spent his entire career

(11-5-2-1), but should be considered as a threat if he runs outside of the Golden

State. Winning his third consecutive race in the Ack Ack, the Harris Farms

homebred returned to the winner's circle earlier this year when cutting back in

distance after a couple of unsuccessful two-turn attempts in the spring of 2005. Although six furlongs

may be questionable if they entertain the thought of running at Churchill Downs

this fall, Lucky J. H. is one to keep an eye on nevertheless in his next start.

Our horse to watch comes out of the 5TH race at

Belmont Park on Belmont Day. The Godolphin Racing-owned AFRASHAD (Smoke Glacken)

came off a near two-year layoff to

set the early pace and rattled off quick splits of :21 4/5, :44 and :55 4/5

before opening up a 4 3/4-length advantage on his nearest opponent, completing

six furlongs in 1:08 1/5. The time was only a fifth of a second slower than the True

North one race later, and 2 3/5 seconds faster than the 11TH race at the end

of the card, a six-furlong maiden special weight for horses three and up. The

victory was Afrashad's first North American win and his second win in two career

starts for trainer Saeed bin Suroor.