Post by Ripley on Jan 11, 2017 9:35:36 GMT -5
Sun King To Go To Breeders' Cup Sprint
When Sun King was found to be injured after the Salvator Mile Stakes at Battle Stone Downs, it was thought that perhaps the chestnut would be retired. He'd proven himself a worthy follow up to legendary Mastermind, had written his own impressive resume with victories in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint. He would have retired with all the accolades after winning the Spring Dawn Treader Cup at 9F and the New Hampshire Sweep Classic at ten furlongs. He is well-loved and highly anticipated by breeders. Already booked full for the foreseeable future, it would have been fine to retire him.
The injury was only minor though and it gave the red horse a break at the farm, something he hadn't had since January of Y15. Based on the horse's gallops prior to the Damascus Stakes, the break did him well.
"At first he slept all day, spread out across his stall. We considered him a good patient by any measure. He can be a bit of a bully, but there wasn't any of that this time. He needed some r & r and he got it. Daily paddock turnouts. Sometimes we left him out all night on the good evenings and just let him be a horse. He was ready to start working again when the vet said it was okay to train again. He took to it with more verve than we'd seen since earlier this year. I was impressed and even Brooks said that he just felt like more horse than before."
When he came back, the son of Native Flame and El Sol del Mar made it known that Year Sixteen was not quite finished yet. He is likely going to miss out on major awards because he ran over a wide variety of distances, but even the best just need to prove it out on the track to make history, not in a ballroom. The Damascus was an exposition of sorts for the colt, an exposition of speed and stamina.
Lilith Wind, a top talent returning from layoff herself, the classic Rough Diamond and the hard-trying Trinity all faced him in the seven furlong dirt race, but only Lilith Wind could keep within hearing distance. The difficult to load four year old bounced away from the gate like a quarterhorse, took it to his rivals early and then blasted away on the far turn. His jock was stock still in the stirrups by the time they came to the wire, reminding everyone just how brilliant Y14's Juvenile of the Year and Y15's Colt of the Year actually remained.
Owner and trainer Ripley wasn't certain if Sun King would run in the Breeders' Cup right after the Damascus run, but his training has been superb ever since. Catching up with her after the colt worked five furlongs in :59 flat with a gallop out in 1:10 2/5, Ripley was all smiles. "Wouldn't it be something for him to win the Breeders' Cup Dirt Sprint after being injured midway through the season? We have no reason not to go after today. We've run within a nose of Alucard, the Sun Festival winner, with a tired horse earlier this year. We'd love to make a race of it in the Breeders's Cup with a fresh one. We expected Alucard to dominate and he did all year. Valkyrie has done an incredible job turning him into a champion, but we'd like to run against him just once more with our horse."
And how about running him again as a five year old?
"It's already in the works. We still have contracts with people looking to breed to him in Year Seventeen, but if we retire him by May, we'll make it. How can we not go on with this horse knowing just how good he is right now?"
