All eyes will be on Hansen, as the gray/roan colt kicks off his 2012 campaign in the Holy Bull Stakes
The major Grade 1 Kentucky Derby prospect, and the juvenile champion of 2011, Hansen will kick off his 2012 campaign in the Grade 3, $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park on 29 January, 2012. The 1 mile race will be run on dirt, and it has reeled in six newly turned 3-year-old colts and geldings.
The Kentucky bred Hansen will be cut back in distance after his phenomenal win over Union Rags in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, where for the first time he ran at about 1 1/16 miles.
This time around though it is a one turn mile event, and it seems trainer Michael Maker is taking Hansen back to the basics before his big race at Churchill Downs.
In truth, Hansen just wanted one sprint, and that too in his maiden special weight race at Turfway Park where he contested over at five and a half furlongs and won the formal event at first asking by a massive margin.
It was then decided that the son of Tapit doesn’t need to dwell more at sprints, and the best possible opportunity at that time to stretch him in distance was the Kentucky Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles.
Jockey V Lebron guided the gray/roan colt to his first two victories in as many starts.
Enter Ramon Dominguez, because it was time for a big jockey to ride Hansen in a big event such as the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile race at Churchill Downs, and the result was no different.
Without tinkering much with his natural front running style, the plan was always to go all out, right from the outset. The only plan Hansen and his connections know that works.
However, on the road to the Triple Crown, the plan has to be altered because eventually he will be running at about 1 ¼ miles, and that could be tricky if Hansen is allowed to go all out on dirt.
Come what may, Michael Maker is going to string together a few more victories on Hansen’s much anticipated Triple Crown quest, just to have the feel good factor going before the ultimate occasion that Hansen will be blessed with only once in his career.
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