After missing the first half of the year due to a knee injury in the Sprint (G1) of the 2021 Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup sea, Special reserve gets back in shape just in time for the fall campaign.
Last year's Stoll winner Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes (G2) will attempt to defend his title on October 7th Keenelandthe site of his biggest career win to date, earning a 3 1/2-length victory in the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Stakes on August 6 climber. The return to victory was satisfactory for trainer Mike Maker, who suffered the retirement of Special Reserve and finished seventh in his first start of the year, the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes on July 16 Laurel Park.
MITCHELL: Special reserve holds off overdue challenge to win Phoenix
“The comeback race was disappointing, but we forgave him and tried to give him the (next) race with the best timing, which ended up being Mountaineer,” Maker said. “He rewarded us with a win and hopefully he defends his Phoenix win.”
Claimed by Paradise Farms and David Staudacher last February for $40,000 Oaklawn ParkSpecial Reserve, ran no worse than second in six starts for his connections last year while improving through the conditions, including a second place finish by just half a length Lexitonic in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1). Saratoga Race Track. The 6-year-old was making his seventh and final start in a season in which he also won the Maryland Sprint Match Series Stakes (G3) and the Iowa Sprint Stakes Midshipman The gelding came fourth behind him Hello West in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. That was the rival he fended off for one start before narrowly winning the six-furlong Phoenix.
“He’s a nice horse and we’ve had good success with him,” Maker said. “When we claimed him he was still entitled to his conditions and with the purses at Oaklawn we were just hoping to get the 2-other-than condition and make some money, but he got the better of us and had a great year.” .”
Special Reserve faces seven rivals to become the second consecutive winner of the Phoenix, scheduled as the seventh race on the fall meet's 10-race opening card with a start time of 4:12 p.m. ET. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount from post 2.
“He has natural speed and we’re not going to take anything away from him; “He’s a great horse and hopefully he’s placed up front,” Maker said of Friday’s tactics.
Sibelius wins the Lite the Fuse Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Sibelius Winner of the Lite the Fuse Stakes on September 10th Pimlico Racecourseis the only other contender to have a win – two of them, in fact, as he prevailed by 7 1/2 lengths in this six-eighths test at Maryland after posting an allowance-level score Aug. 10 at Saratoga for coach Jeremiah O'Dwyer. Junior Alvarado has his sights set on the 4-year-old from post 5 Not this time Gelding.
Long distance toddy is the only other graded stakes winner in the field, but that win dates back to the 2019 Rebel Stakes (G2), with a stretch of 24 starts without a win since then. The field is completed by stakes winners Top shooter , Necker Island , Sir Alfred James And Manny Wah The latter two are graded according to stakes and the winner's allowance Baytown Bear who was second to Special Reserve in the Mountaineer but sixth-to-last in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes on September 17 Churchill Downs after a third in the Rumson Stakes on September 4th Monmouth Park.
The Phoenix is a Breeders' Cup Challenge event for the Nov. 5 Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint, held this year at Keeneland. Two Phoenix winners have won the Breeders' Cup Sprint in the same year: Runhappy in 2015 and Work All Week in 2014.
Entries: Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. (G2)
Keeneland, Friday, October 7, 2022, Race 7
- Class II
- 6f
- dirt
- $350,000
- From 3 years
- 4:12 p.m. (local)
