Tizway, Flat Out eye rematch in Jockey Club Gold Cup; Morning Line to undergo te

Tizway, Flat Out eye rematch in Jockey Club Gold Cup;

Morning Line to undergo tests

"It was just so fantastic to watch him pour it on. At the eighth-pole, it

looked like there was a possibility (runner-up FLAT OUT [Flatter]) was going to

outrun him, and he just kind of kicked in again. I just can't tell you how great

it feels. I'm in a zone right now. I don't even know I'm standing here, to be

honest with you."

Bond offered a simple explanation for Tizway's newly found consistency: the

horse, previously plagued by foot injuries, is now completely sound.

"He's fit. Believe it or not, I've already booked his works through the Gold

Cup," Bond said, holding up his schedule. "This morning, I was here at 3:30.

There are his Gold Cup works already. When you can do that with a horse, you've

got a big edge. When you gotta say, 'Well, today, we've got to jog. We can't do

this. Things aren't good enough.' It's a big difference, especially when you are

running against Grade 1-type fields."

Bond believes Tizway's Whitney win places him in the mix for Horse of the

Year should he continue to excel in the remaining months of 2011.

"If he wins the Gold Cup, I feel like he's 2-1 to be the leader," Bond said.

"If we win the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), I feel like he stamps. When you win

the Met in the time that he did it and the way that he did it, and he comes back

with a pretty crushing race yesterday, if he can win the Gold Cup it's going to

take a really good horse to outshine him at the end of the year, as long as he

stays together."

The Jockey Club Gold Cup will be Tizway's first start at 1 1/4 miles since

his third-place finish behind Summer Bird and Quality Road in the 2009 edition

of the race, but Bond believes the horse will handle the added furlong.

"He'll run all day," Bond said. "He'll go two miles. He's got a high cruising

speed. He gets that head down. He's sound. I can train him now. I could train

him today."

On the morning after Flat Out's second-place finish in Saturday's Whitney,

trainer Scooter Dickey was already looking ahead to a rematch with Tizway in the

Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Dickey, currently based at Monmouth Park, said Flat Out exited the Whitney in

good shape and will likely have one start prior to the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

"There's nothing set in stone, either the Iselin ([G3] at Monmouth on August

20) or Woodward ([G1 at Saratoga September 3)," said Dickey, who was scheduled

to take Flat Out back to Monmouth later on Sunday. "The Jockey Club Gold Cup,

definitely. That will probably be our last one before the Breeders' Cup."

Like Bond with Tizway, Dickey said he always thought Flat Out, who entered

the Whitney off a rousing score in the Suburban H. (G2) at Belmont in July, was

a talented horse who had been hindered by nagging injuries.

"I've always believed in him," said Dickey, who trains the five-year-old for

Preston Stables. "He proved me right. We always thought he was a good horse. He

just always had so many troubles. He's finally healthy on his feet. He had a lot

of things. He had a problem in each foot at one time or another. Hopefully,

those are in the past."

Trainer John Kimmel said that FRIEND OR FOE (Friends Lake) was in good shape

Sunday morning after a fourth-place finish in the Whitney. The four-year-old

colt gamely held on and missed third by a nose to late-running Giant Oak

(Giant's Causeway) after making the Whitney pace for six furlongs.

"I'm glad our horse came back OK, and I'll keep the Woodward on the radar,"

Kimmel said.

Kimmel said he believed the horses in the race didn't handle the track well,

contributing to the relatively slow final time of 1:52 2/5 for the 1 1/8 miles.

"It might be the slowest Whitney on record, and these are not slow horses,"

Kimmel said.

Actually, it was the third slowest Whitney since the race was switched from 1

1/4 miles in 1955. Nevertheless, the victorious Tizway earned a BRIS Speed

rating of 108.

Trying to make sense of MORNING LINE's (Tiznow) disappointing last-place

finish in the Whitney, a glum Nick Zito said the four-year-old colt will undergo

some testing and then would probably be sent to owner Will Farish's Lane's End

Farm in Kentucky for further evaluation.

"Obviously, he's not the same horse," said the Hall of Fame trainer of the

Carter H. (G1) winner, who pressed Friend or Foe through six furlongs before

giving way and finishing 11th, nearly 28 lengths behind Tizway. "We're all

disappointed, the stable's all disappointed. I hate to use the word embarrassed,

I've never used that word in a horse race. But he's not the same horse.

"What's upsetting to me is, I know how good the horse is," he continued. "He

had five great races in a row, from the Pennsylvania Derby (G2) on. And the

Carter was spectacular. And then, he lost the last race, the Monmouth race, and

now this situation. I thought when he was laying with Friend or Foe and Tizway

was breathing down his back, he was going to go, and when he didn't, I was,

like, 'What?' If he were the same, he would have at least been second."

Morning Line's Carter was fifth in a string of impressive performances that

began with his victory over First Dude in the Pennsylvania Derby, a second to

Dakota Phone in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), a third in the Hal's Hope

(G3) behind Soaring Empire (Empire Maker) and a second to Giant Oak in the Donn

H. (G1) this year, earning triple-digit BRIS Speed figures for each.

"After the Carter, he joined us at Churchill, and he had a nice work under

Julien (Leparoux)," Zito said. "Then he came up with a foot issue, we X-rayed

him, and we thought we were getting by that. We went to Monmouth (where he

finished fifth as the favorite in the Salvator Mile [G3] on July 2) and

obviously he's not the same since that issue."

Zito said Morning Line would likely be X-rayed this week, and if there are no

changes, he would be sent to Lane's End.

"I mean, that's the best farm in the world, and maybe they can further

evaluate him, take him to Dr. (Larry) Bramlage and see what he says," said Zito.

"He's obviously not right. We have to figure out what is it. I know they'll make

a good decision."