by Frank Angst
That buzz you hear is coming from Turfway Park where this year’s top two Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (G1) finishers will meet again.
With the timing and planning of their Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) powered by Dodge preparations coinciding, Derby winner Street Sense and runner-up Hard Spun will meet on Saturday in the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic (G2). Three others entered the 1 1/8-mile race on Polytrack: Cat Shaker, Stream Cat, and Muqbil.
In the past 25 years, six pairs of top two Derby finishers have faced each other 12 times after the Triple Crown races.
Carl Nafzger, trainer of Street Sense, said it is rare that multiple horses can perform well in the Triple Crown and return to top form later in the year. Street Sense and Hard Spun both enter Saturday’s race off Grade 1 victories.
“I think it’s an intriguing matchup,” Nafzger said. “I think it says a lot about the quality of this year’s three-year-olds.”
Street Sense, who also finished ahead of Hard Spun in the Preakness Stakes (G1), scored a clear victory in the Travers Stakes (G1) less than an hour after Hard Spun secured a hard-fought 1 1/2-length victory in the King’s Bishop Stakes (G1) on the August 25 Saratoga Race Course card. Nafzger is not concerned about a potentially tough race at Turfway.
“I like challenges. If I was looking for an easy spot, I wouldn’t run this weekend against Hard Spun,” Nafzger said. “If we’re going to be ready for the Breeders’ Cup, we need a tough race this time of year.”
After his Derby victory and a runner-up finish in the Preakness Stakes (G1), Street Sense did not race until July 29 when he won the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) as prep for the Travers. Nafzger believes the easy travel for the Kentucky Cup Classic will benefit Street Sense in his final scheduled prep for the Breeders’ Cup on October 27 at Monmouth Park.
“The biggest factor is that we will go to Turfway that morning and return to his home barn that night,” said Nafzger, who is based at Churchill Downs, where Street Sense breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 on Tuesday.
“He’s matured a lot,” said regular rider Calvin Borel after Tuesday’s move. “He’s just blossoming out and is more focused. He’s doing it the right way.”
Compared to Keeneland Race Course, Saratoga, Belmont Park, or Southern California, Turfway Park may have seemed a longshot for such a matchup but the track’s Northern Kentucky location, its Polytrack surface, and a $150,000 bonus proved attractive. (Turfway is offering a $150,000 bonus to any Grade 1 winner who wins this year’s Kentucky Cup Classic, although Hard Spun, as a Pennsylvania-bred, is not eligible for all of the $350,000 in purse money).
Hard Spun returns to Turfway for the first time since posting a visually impressive 3 1/4-length victory in the Lane’s End Stakes (G2), his only career start on a synthetic surface.
“We probably couldn't have imagined what has happened since we were last at Turfway,” said Larry Jones, trainer of Hard Spun. “This is a great thing for the track to have the top two horses from the Derby. It won't be an easy spot for any of the other horses that join the field.”
Hard Spun used the Lane’s End as a prep for his Triple Crown run, where he finished second in the Derby, third in the Preakness, and fourth in the Belmont Stakes (G1). Hard Spun finished second to eventual Brooklyn Handicap (G2) winner Any Given Saturday in the Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1) at Monmouth Park before winning the King’s Bishop.
Street Sense will try to secure his first synthetic surface victory. The Street Cry (Ire) colt finished second in the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes (G1) and third in last year’s Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1), both at Keeneland. Street Sense used those races as final preps for victories in the Derby and Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), respectively.
Frank Angst is senior staff writer of Thoroughbred Times