Dubai trip likely for ‘Midway’

ARCADIA, Calif. – Battle of Midway, the winner of the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday and five other stakes, is targeting the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Wednesday.

“My owners are pointing for Dubai’s big race,” Hollendorfer said.

The Group 1 Dubai World Cup is run at 1 1/4 miles and would equal the longest race in Battle of Midway’s career. Battle of Midway was third, beaten 7 3/4 lengths by Always Dreaming, in the 2017 Kentucky Derby.

Hollendorfer said he has no hesitation in starting Battle of Midway at 1 1/4 miles.

“He gave a good showing,” Hollendorfer said of the Kentucky Derby.

The Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at the same distance on March 9 has also been discussed for Battle of Midway, Hollendorfer said.

Owned by Don Alberto Racing and WinStar Farm, Battle of Midway, 5, has won 8 of 16 starts and earned $1,589,049. At 3, Battle of Midway won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in what was expected to be his final start.

Battle of Midway was sent to stud in Kentucky for the 2018 breeding season, but was found to be sub-fertile and was put back in training last spring. The San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles is the most prestigious win of his comeback.

Fernando Diaz-Valdes of Don Alberto Racing said on Wednesday that a decision will be made later this month on the Dubai trip.

“There is a very good possibility,” he said.

Sadler has pair for Big Cap

Graded stakes winner Gift Box is not the only John Sadler trainee pointing to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 9. Sadler said Wednesday that second-level allowance winner Campaign would join his more-accomplished stablemate in the 1 1/4-mile Big Cap.

“He’s a Curlin out of a Dynaformer mare – he wants to run all day,” Sadler said.

Campaign made his first start for Sadler on Sunday at Santa Anita, winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance race by neck while earning a 92 Beyer Figure over a track labeled sloppy. The figure was the highest of his 3-for-6 career.

“He [barely] got up,” Sadler acknowledged, “but he wants to run a mile and an eighth, a mile and a quarter. He’s a cinch in the Tokyo City at a mile and a half on dirt. He’s a grinder.”

The Grade 3 Tokyo City is April 14.

Nolo Contesto, the promising Sadler-trained 3-year-old maiden winner who scratched from the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis last Saturday when the track came up sloppy, will regroup.

“My first option to was to work [Tuesday] and try to supplement to the San Vicente, but I decided not to do that,” Sadler said.

Rather than trying to make the seven-furlong San Vicente on Feb. 10, Sadler said Nolo Contesto will resume workouts this weekend and will probably run in the San Felipe here March 9 or ship for another stakes. The last-start maiden win by Nolo Contesto was flattered when runner-up Omaha Beach returned last Saturday to win a seven-furlong maiden sprint by nine lengths with a 90 Beyer.

Spiced Perfection sold privately

Spiced Perfection, the winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, was purchased privately earlier this week and has joined trainer Peter Miller’s stable.

Spiced Perfection was previously trained by Brian Koriner for Dare to Dream Stable. Miller said Spiced Perfection was bought by Adam Wachtel, Peter Deutsch, and Len Schleifer.

Miller said on Wednesday that Spiced Perfection will have a workout this weekend and is under consideration for two seven-furlong stakes for fillies and mares on Feb. 16 – the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita or the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel.

“It depends on how the fields line up, and the travel situation,” Miller said.

Spiced Perfection has won 6 of 14 starts and earned $622,405. A 4-year-old California-bred filly by Smiling Tiger, Spiced Perfection won her fourth stakes, and first graded race, in the La Brea Stakes at seven furlongs.

“I hope I can do as well as Brian has done with her,” Miller said on Wednesday. “She’s in great shape.”

Fahan Mura to Buena Vista

The front-running mare Fahan Mura does not know she finished last in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational on Jan. 26. Fahan Mura returned to her California base two days after the Pegasus and is doing so well that trainer Vladimir Cerin already has targeted her next start.

“I was going to let her down, and then bring her back up, but she’s jumping out of her skin,” Cerin said this week at Santa Anita. “We’re pointing to the Buena Vista.”

Fahan Mura is likely to face Vasilika in the one-mile Buena Vista for fillies and mares on Feb. 23.

Fahan Mura set the pace at odds of 42-1 in the Pegasus before tiring to finish last of 10. In her previous start, she led gate to wire in the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes at Santa Anita. A refugee from the claiming ranks, Fahan Mura is a 5-year-old mare who has won 9 of 24 starts.

◗ Notwithstanding a creditable third-place comeback last weekend in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes, Giant Expectations is not likely for the Santa Anita Handicap.

“I just think it’s too far for him,” trainer Peter Eurton said Wednesday.

Eurton said he thinks Giant Expectations is better at a mile or 1 1/16 miles, and might run in the $300,000 Essex on March 16 at Oaklawn Park or a race at Fair Grounds.

Giant Expectations, who earned a 96 Beyer in his comeback, has won four races and $1,199,100 from 18 starts.

EMILY SHIELDS Battle of Midway won the San Pasqual Stakes on Saturday.