The morning before the rains started to fall, fall and fall some more on Louisville and pretty much all of Kentucky, Jeremiah Englehart kicked around Barn 41 on the Churchill Downs backstretch while Forty Under cooled out under the shedrow with other runners for this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
“Two more days,” Englehart said, counting down to Forty Under’s run in Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Englehart is anxious to see how Forty Under, an aptly named colt who sold for $40,000 less than then men who picked him out and bought him as a yearling, will fare against a deep group of domestic and international young turf horses.
The son of Uncle Mo, bought by Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells’ August Dawn Farm for $180,000 on the advice of Robbie Medina and Englehart at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select sale, fared well in his first two starts on the grass. He comes into the 1-mile Juvenile Turf off back-to-back victories, the latest a three-quarter-length victory over yielding ground in the Grade 3 Pilgrim at Belmont Park Sept. 29.
Forty Under and the other runners entered in the Friday’s grass races will encounter ground with a significant cut after the soaking rains. Englehart didn’t seem overly concerned, and also draws some confidence after breezing Forty Under a half-mile on the yielding Churchill turf last Friday.
“I’ve only made one start here and that was in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup with Tamarind Hall,” Englehart said of the Florida-bred’s 10th in the Filly and Mare Sprint. “I’ll ask questions of other guys though. Tom Amoss is a good friend of mine so he’s a good one to ask about here.
“He pushed me in the direction to work on the turf Friday. I didn’t want to because I knew it was going to be soft, so I’m like, maybe it’s better for him to get a good trip over it. I’m happy I did. He handled it well, and it gives me confidence that on race day he’ll do the same.”
Forty Under is one of the top contenders for the Juvenile Turf and is 5-1 on the morning line. He’ll again meet Somelikeithotbrown, runner-up in the Pilgrim, along with fellow Americans Current and Henley’s Joy and European threats Anthony Van Dyck and Line Of Duty.
Forty Under started his career on the main track in a 6-furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga July 28. Three days before the race, Englehart went through his string in the Oklahoma Annex at Saratoga Race Course for the Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour in The Saratoga Special and touted Forty Under a bit.
“He’s an Uncle Mo, I don’t know if he’s going to want to sprint but he’s been precocious enough that I think he’ll be forwardly placed and have a shot,” Englehart said.
Three days later Forty Under showed some speed from the inside before fading to finish ninth of 10. He’d breezed well before that inauspicious debut, including in company with another aptly named colt owned by Parcells, the $225,000 Uncle Mo yearling Fifty Over.
Fifty Over pulled up in his only start at Belmont Sept. 23 before earning some time off. Englehart said in late July he could see Fifty Over eventually turning the tables and being the better of the two and isn’t about to give up on his Breeders’ Cup-bound colt’s stablemate.
“He’s yet to show his true self,” Englehart said Wednesday. “I like him. I’m almost thinking he might also be a little turfy as well. I worked them both on the turf before I ran this guy on the grass and he worked right with him. This guy was a little better at that time. I said, ‘well if he’s not as good as this horse on the grass that’s still pretty good.’ We’re going to give him some time, take him down to Florida and run him there.”
Forty Under made his turf debut in the fifth race on the Aug. 25 Travers Day card and won going 1 1/16 miles. The victory redeemed Englehart’s belief in the colt and earned him a trip to the Pilgrim Sept. 29.
“I thought he would run well that day,” Englehart said of the failed dirt debut. “I definitely thought he would want more distance and not be a sprinter. Uncle Mo, Black Tie Affair on the bottom and he has more Black Tie Affair characteristics than Uncle Mo.
“He just ended up liking the grass. I’ll probably try him long on the dirt once, maybe just to rule that out of the equation at this stage of the game. Right now we’ll keep him on the turf until I want to try him.”
Forty Under trained all spring, summer and into early fall in Saratoga, where Englehart moved his main base of operation this year. He’d previously split his stable between Finger Lakes and Belmont, maintaining a presence in Saratoga only during the meet. He bought a farm in Schuylerville and relocated his family from the Rochester area this year.
“The move there was mainly because I felt my business was moving more toward NYRA,” he said. “It’s more of a central location. I don’t spend as much time as I did before at Finger Lakes. That’s where I was mainly and now it’s more Saratoga and Belmont and until Saratoga closes then it’s Florida. I’m going to start a stable at Laurel as well. We have some horses going there after the Breeders’ Cup. All year. I find there’s a lot of horses that might not be NYRA quality but better than Finger Lakes. The purses are good at Laurel. We’ve had luck shipping down there. I thought maybe we’d try. I have some clients that are interested in it.
“They do things right there (in Maryland). As far as getting the condition book out, they get that out, they give you time to prepare for races and stuff. It’s pretty horseman friendly, trainer friendly as far as that goes.”
The Juvenile Turf is one of three Breeders’ Cup races set for the grass Friday, along with the Juvenile Fillies Turf and the inaugural Juvenile Turf Sprint. The “Future Stars Friday” card is highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
The Breeders’ Cup continues Saturday with nine championship races led by the $6 million Classic and $4 million Turf.
