Ft Larned Wins Stephen Foster $500K G1

Fort Larned gets in final pre-Foster breeze

Last year's Breeders' Cup Classic winner Fort Larned continued his preparations for Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap with a five-furlong breeze in 1:01 2/5 on the muddy main track at Churchill Downs on Monday morning.
Working under Brian Hernandez Jr., Fort Larned recorded fractions of :13 4/5, :26 2/5, :38 1/5 and :49 4/5. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 3/5.

After two disappointing starts year, trainer Ian Wilkes is hopeful Fort Larned can prove to be the "big dog" once again in the Stephen Foster.

"When you get to a Grade 1 race, they don't just hand them to you," Wilkes said. "I wish they would hand it to us, but they're not going to do it. That's the challenge. Fort Larned has to step up to the plate and become the big dog again. That's what he's got to do."

Janis Whitham's homebred Fort Larned made his five-year-old debut in the Gulfstream Park Handicap in March and lost Hernandez after stumbling at the start. Fort Larned proceeded to race around the track without the guidance of a rider and finished well in front of the field.


"You can jump up and down and scream and holler all you want, but it's part of racing," Wilkes said. "You go from the highest of highs to the low of thinking he could have finished his career. He could have hurt himself real bad. It was a sigh of relief when he came back fine. The important thing was that he was OK and Brian was OK."

Fort Larned made his second start of the year in the Oaklawn Handicap and finished fifth as the 1-2 favorite in the field of 10. Wilkes said he expected a better performance.

"He didn't show any signs of being fatigued and I thought he was on top of his game," Wilkes said. "I was a little surprised."

Now heading into his third start of the year, Wilkes is hopeful Fort Larned, who was last of eight in last year's Stephen Foster, will be back in top form Saturday.

"You never know until you get back to the races," Wilkes said. "That's the biggest key. His works have been really good -- solid and crisp. And the horse looks really good. After the stumble and the bad race, I had to regroup. I had to get it together and this is our start for the second half of the year to get things going."

Fort Larned, who is likely to be the co-starting high weight with Successful Dan at 121 pounds, won the Breeders' Cup Classic in gate-to-wire fashion, but Wilkes said he won't necessarily go to the front in the Stephen Foster.

"You just don't know until you see how you draw and see exactly who is in the race," Wilkes said. "I know we're thinking it'll be six horses, but entries haven't closes and someone could come in that could change the whole race. The main thing is that I'm just going to focus on my horse right now. When we see the post draw and see who is in there, then we'll get a game plan together."

Entries will be taken Wednesday morning. The probable field is Fort Larned (121 pounds), Successful Dan (121), Ron the Greek (120), Take Charge Indy (119), Golden Ticket (117) and Pool Play (115).

Wilkes, former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, said Fort Larned, who in addition to the Breeders' Cup Classic won last year's Whitney Handicap, Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap and Skip Away, ranks as one of the most talented horses he's worked with in his career.

"You can't compare him to Unbridled or Street Sense because he's a different type of horse," Wilkes said. “But, in his own way, he ranks right up there with them."

The Foster is one of five graded stakes races Saturday and will be run in prime time under the lights on the first of three "Downs After Dark" programs. The first of 11 races will be 6 p.m. (EDT) and the Foster is scheduled as Race 8 at 9:39 p.m.

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Brisnet

For me, it's hard to go against LoPresti - especially at Churchill.

Successful Dan looking to go one better than Wise Dan in Foster

In 2012, owner Mort Fink and trainer Charles LoPresti started off Wise Dan's campaign with a 10 1/2-length victory in Keeneland's Ben Ali at Keeneland, followed by a close head second in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. The Wiseman's Ferry gelding would go on to take three Grade 1s, including the Breeders' Cup Mile, en route to being named Horse of the Year.

On Saturday, Fink and LoPresti send out Wise Dan's older half-brother Successful Dan on the same path as he faces five rivals in the Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap on the first of three night racing cards under the Twin Spires. The Foster is one of four graded races on Saturday at Churchill and will be run in prime time at approximately 9:39 p.m. (EDT) under the lights.

While Wise Dan already owned a Grade 1 win prior to his Foster attempt, Successful Dan is still seeking that elusive top-level victory despite finishing first in the 2010 Clark Handicap over track and 1 1/8-mile distance. The Successful Appeal seven-year-old was disqualified to third by the stewards after interfering with another rival in the stretch of that race.

"That would be the ultimate," LoPresti said of Successful Dan finally getting a Grade 1 credit on his resume. "I'd like to see him get a Grade 1."


The bay gelding hasn't had many opportunities since the Clark to face Grade 1 competition, racing just four times since. He skipped the entire 2011 season due to a suspensory injury after having incurred similar injuries in 2009 following a win in the Northern Dancer at Churchill Downs. Successful Dan was off for 14 months between 2009 and 2010, but faced a 17-month layoff in his 2012 return.

He still managed to score an optional claimer in his opener following that vacation and take the Alysheba on the Kentucky Oaks undercard last year. However, his physical problems flared up once more after Successful Dan ran second to eventual Breeders' Cup Classic victor Fort Larned in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap last June and he went to the sidelines for 10 months.

"It's been frustrating," LoPresti admitted. "That's the best way to put it. Had he not been plagued with the injuries he's been plagued with, you probably would have seen a potential Horse of the Year in him at some point."


In his first start since the Cornhusker, Successful Dan won the Ben Ali and LoPresti said his charge needed the race.

"I think there's no doubt," the horseman stated. "He'd been off for a while. Historically, his second race (off a layoff) has been even better. He's 110-percent right now. I couldn't have him any better."

LoPresti added that Successful Dan, who will break from the far outside under regular rider Julien Leparoux, will travel to Churchill Downs from his barn at Keeneland on Saturday morning. He will face a competitive group of older horses in the Stephen Foster, including Fort Larned, defending Stephen Foster champ Ron the Greek and Take Charge Indy, six-length winner of the May 3 Alysheba.

"I think Fort Larned has to be respected an awful lot," LoPresti said. "He's the Breeders' Cup Classic winner. The other horse I'd worry about is Ron the Greek, who beat Wise Dan by a head last year. Those are the two I fear the most."

Ron the Greek competed just three times, all in Grade 1s, following his Foster victory last season. The Bill Mott trainee finished second next out in the Whitney Handicap to Fort Larned, but never factored when trying a good track at Belmont Park in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. The six-year-old son of Full Mandate wrapped up his 2012 campaign with a furious rally from the back of the Breeders' Cup Classic to take fourth.


"I guess after we beat him in the Foster, I thought we were at least as good as he was," Mott said. "But he wound up beating us in both the Whitney and the Breeders' Cup. So our hats are off to him and we've got to try to turn the tables."

In three starts this year, Ron the Greek has romped by 11 1/4 lengths in the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic, finished fourth as the defending champion of the Santa Anita Handicap on March 2 and just missed by a half-length when third in the rich Charles Town Classic in late April. The latter two events were both captured by Game On Dude, and Ron the Greek will probably relish getting away from his West Coast rival here. Jose Lezcano, who has been aboard Ron the Greek for his past 10 races, has the call in the Foster.

Fort Larned has not been as fortunate since his upset win in the Breeders' Cup Classic. The E Dubai five-year-old stumbled at the start of the Gulfstream Park Handicap in his seasonal debut on March 9, losing rider Brian Hernandez Jr., then faded to a well-beaten fifth in the Oaklawn Handicap last out in mid-April.

"He didn't show any signs of being fatigued and I thought he was on top of his game," trainer Ian Wilkes said. "I was a little surprised. You never know until you get back to the races. That's the biggest key. His works have been really good -- solid and crisp. And the horse looks really good. After the stumble and the bad race, I had to regroup. I had to get it together and this is our start for the second half of the year to get things going."

The bay horse needs to rebound off those lackluster efforts and show the same form of his Classic victory if he hopes to be competitive in Saturday's Foster.

"Fort Larned has to step up to the plate and become the big dog again," Wilkes stated. "That's what he's got to do."

Take Charge Indy showed a sort of form reversal last out when taking the Alysheba by six lengths. Prior to that, the A.P. Indy four-year-old hadn't been able to find the winner's circle since a length score in the 2012 Florida Derby. Following the Florida Derby, however, the Pat Byrne pupil exited a 19th-place finish in last year's Kentucky Derby with a bone chip in his left front ankle, which was subsequently removed.

Take Charge Indy hasn't been off-the-board since his return, placing in such Grade 1 events as the Clark and Donn Handicaps, but just couldn't seem to get the win until the Alysheba.

"His win in the Alysheba was vindication for everyone involved, including the horse," Byrne said. "It was almost a year to the day when he got hurt running in the Derby and then he came back and ran like that (1 1/16 miles in 1:41 2/5).

"Numbers wise, his race in the Alysheba was off the charts. I always knew he could be that kind of a horse. You can look back at what I said about him over the winter. I said, 'At the end of the day, this is probably the most talented horse I've ever trained,' and I've had my hands on a couple of good ones."


One of Byrne's best was 1998 Stephen Foster champ Awesome Again, one of three Foster winners to win the Breeders' Cup Classic later the same year.

"I think when it's all said and done, (Take Charge Indy) might be a better horse than Awesome Again," Byrne said.

Rosie Napravnik, in the irons for the Alysheba, retains the mount on Saturday as Take Charge Indy tries to make it two in a row and give his trainer a third win in the Foster.

The other two runners in the race are 2011 Stephen Foster victor Pool Play, who will attempt to become the oldest winner of the race at age eight after being well-beaten in his past two efforts, and Golden Ticket, who dead-heated for the win in the Travers last year and just captured an allowance/optional claimer at Churchill on May 2.

"We know he likes the distance and he likes Churchill," trainer Mark Casse said of Pool Play. "We pick our spots with him. He's our old guy in the barn. His recent form hasn't been great, but we're going to give it a shot. We know we'll be a longshot again, but with the perfect storm and perfect trip, we may have a chance."

Brisnet

Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster
By JOSH ABNER (Associated Press)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Fort Larned won the $536,300 Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap by 6¼ lengths Saturday night at Churchill Downs, giving him a chance to defend his Breeders' Cup Classic title.

The 5-year-old owned by Janis Whitham and trained by Ian Wilkes broke first from the rail and never trailed under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Fort Larned ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.45, the second-fastest Foster behind Victory Gallop's track-record 1:47.28 in 1999.

The winner paid $8.60, $5.20 and $3.60 and earned $329,181 to pushed his career total to $4,031,417. Golden Ticket was second and returned $7.20 and $3.40. Ron the Greek, the 2012 Foster winner, paid $3.20 to show

The Stephen Foster was the first "Win and You're In" race for the year's Breeders' Cup Classic, earning Fort Larned an automatic spot in the Nov. 2 event at Santa Anita and $10,000 toward travel costs.

It was the first win this year for Fort Larned. He stumbled out of the gate and unseated Hernandez in the Gulfstream Handicap in his season debut and finished fifth in the Oaklawn Handicap on April 13.

Wilkes said he second-guessed himself after the Oaklawn performance, but told Hernandez to get the jump in the six-horse field that was long on talent, but without any other expected front-runners.

"Take Charge likes to sit (off the lead) and Successful Dan is a stalker," Wilkes said after the race. "We were really the only speed in the race. If I didn't do it, I was crazy."

Fort Larned had a small lead over favorite Take Charge Indy through the first three-quarters of a mile before putting that rival away at the top of the stretch and earning his third Grade 1 win.

"We've kind of figured that if you let him be fast early, he finishes faster," Hernandez said.

Successful Dan, Pool Play and favorite Take Charge Indy completed the field.

"That horse just got away from us," said Charlie LoPresti, trainer of Successful Dan. "He was gone. Nobody was going to close any ground on him."

The win avenged Fort Larned's performance in last year's Foster when he finished last in the field of eight and showed he's ready for a repeat trip to the Breeders' Cup.

"This was huge, to be able to do it here in Louisville at our home track," Hernandez said. "When Fort Larned didn't show up last year, Ian - that was one of the biggest things he kept saying, 'We need to go ahead and show up big in this one to prove that what he did last year wasn't a fluke.'"

Wilkes said he would next point Fort Larned toward the $750,000 Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 3 at Saratoga, a race he also won last year.

"It's always been the end of the year goal to get back to the Breeders' Cup," Wilkes said. "We'll go to the Whitney and then take it one race at a time."

In other graded stakes Saturday:

Funny Proposition upset 2012 champion older female Royal Delta in the Grade 2 Fleur De Lis Handicap, winning by five lengths. Trained by Mark Casse, Funny Proposition rushed out to an early lead and kicked clear in the stretch under jockey Joel Rosario, paying $13.40 and $4.20.

It was the first start for Royal Delta - last year's Fleur De Lis winner and a two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic - since finishing tenth in the Dubai World Cup on March 30. Giving eight pounds to the winner, Royal Delta paid $2.10 to place in the field of five.

Code West held off Uncaptured by a head to earn his first stakes victory in the Grade 3 Matt Winn. The win was trainer Bob Baffert's 100th at Churchill Downs and his fourth in the race. Ridden by Rosie Napravnik, Code West covered the mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.37 and paid $6.20, $3.40 and $2.80. Uncaptured returned $5.20 and 3.80. Abstraction paid $3.40 to show.

Kitten's Dumplings, favorite in the field of 11, won the Grade 3 Regret by 2¼ lengths over Praia.