Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Roy H leads BC team for Miller
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Peter Miller may have as many as eight runners in Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2-3. His team is still being finalized, he said Sunday.
The leading runner of the group will be Roy H, the 2017 champion sprinter who won Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship to earn a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint on Nov. 3. Roy H clinched his 2017 championship with a win in the BC Sprint last November.
Roy H on Saturday beat stablemate Distinctive B, who is also a candidate for the BC Sprint. Miller’s other runners for the Breeders’ Cup are Fly to Mars for the Mile; Hartel for the Juvenile Turf Sprint or Juvenile Turf; and Belvoir Bay, Conquest Tsunami, Richard’s Boy, and Stormy Liberal for the Turf Sprint.
Belvoir Bay is scheduled to run in Friday’s Grade 3 Franklin County Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Keeneland. Stormy Liberal and Conquest Tsunami were first and second in the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28. Stormy Liberal won the BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar last November.
Richard’s Boy, second in the 2017 BC Turf Sprint, is being prepared for a start in the $100,000 California Flag Stakes for statebreds at five furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 20.
Roy H won for the first time since February in the $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs. He closed from third to win by 2 3/4 lengths over Distinctive B, and still had ample enthusiasm after the race.
“They could barely keep him on his feet leaving the test barn,” Miller said. “He was bucking and playing and acting a fool. He’s good.”
Roy H was second to Ransom the Moon in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 28. Ransom the Moon, who earned a fees-paid berth for the BC Sprint with the win in the Bing Crosby, was third in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, finishing 3 1/4 lengths behind Roy H.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said Ransom the Moon was hampered by a slow opening quarter-mile in 22.45 seconds.
“I’m disappointed, but he’s just a victim of circumstances,” D’Amato said. “If they go 22 and two-fifths in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, I’ll turn in my trainer’s license.
“He comes from behind. In a Grade 1 on a California track, going 22 and 2 early that’s like, you know . . . that’s like going in 23 and change anywhere else. He got what he needed to get out of that. I’m sure I’ll have a good horse ready to go.”
Fly to Mars must be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup program for $100,000 by Oct. 22, the day pre-entries are due. Miller said he will consult with owner Gary Barber about plans for Fly to Mars, a 4-year-old gelding.
Fly to Mars was beaten a nose by Sharp Samurai in Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile, although the margin seemed more like a whisker.
In the minutes after the race, Miller was certain Fly to the Mars prevailed, a position he reiterated Sunday morning.
Miller was concerned on Sunday that Fly to Mars would miss the BC Mile because of the loss. The race will have a maximum of 14 runners.
“We’ll see if he will get in,” Miller said.
Race winner Sharp Samurai won his fifth stakes and first since last October in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile. Sharp Samurai was second in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar in July and third in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile, only to be later placed second when original second-place finisher Fly to Mars was ruled to have caused interference in the stretch.
Sharp Samurai, owned by Red Barons Barn, Rancho Temescal, and trainer Mark Glatt, has raced only on firm turf. Glatt hopes for the same going at Churchill Downs next month.
“We hope that turf course is something to his liking and we’ll go from there,” he said. “That’s the fear of shipping and running – will his form transfer to a different turf course? The weather will have some say with that.”
Catapult, who won the Eddie Read Stakes and Del Mar Mile, worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on Sunday and is being trained toward the BC Mile by John Sadler.