Atta Boy Roy stops for Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga before the Breeders’ Cup Sprint for trainer Valorie Lund
The 6-year-old multiple stakes winning sprinter, Atta Boy Roy's, 2011 tour will take him next to Saratoga to race in the Grade 1 $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on 7 August, 2011.
Trained by Valorie Lund for R.E.V. Racing, Atta Boy Roy had a dismal start to the 2011 season as compare to what he did in the 2010 starting race at Churchill Downs.
The 2011 debut race kicked off on 3 April, 2011 at Santa Anita dirt course over at a distance of 6 ½ furlongs. Under jockey V Baze, Atta Boy Roy, 6, broke slowly from the gates and, could not find his feet afterwards and, struggled to even stay in the race.
The poorly run race was run under jockey V Baze, who roused the horse for the first time and it seemed didn’t read the horse too well. Atta Boy Roy finished a disappointing 10th, while Amazombie claimed the Grade 3 Potrero Grande.
Atta Boy Roy won his first start of 2010 in emphatic style, when he placed in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes over at a distance of 7 furlongs at Churchill Downs dirt course on 1 May, 2010.
Under jockey C Borel, Atta Boy Roy grabbed his last graded stakes win back then, and since then he has won once in the Remington Sprint Cup held at Remington Park on 21 August, 2010.
The successful run at Remington Park was also under jockey C Borel, as the pair clocked the distance of six furlongs in 1 minute and 9.29 seconds.
The aim for Valorie Lund and her six-year-old horse is the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and, that is exactly why she chose the Vanderbilt Handicap because she wants to know sooner than later whether Breeders’ Cup Sprint is a realistic goal or not.
Last year Atta Boy Roy competed in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on 6 November, 2010, where he came crashing down and ambled to the finish line, coming in 10th on the day.
The course to Breeders’ Cup Atta Boy Roy’s connections took last year was between the Vanderbilt Handicap and the Remington Park, which Atta Boy Roy won. In the process, trainer Valorie Lund admitted that she wanted to avoid the tough horses on the road
to Breeders’ Cup.
She has chose Vanderbilt Handicap this year, because if she is hot on the Breeders’ Cup trail she might want to taste a bit of tough competition before the real showdown.
Atta Boy Roy drilled out a nice work out session on 1 August, as he covered four furlongs in 47.51 seconds. He breezed on the Saratoga’s main track.
Apriority and Noble’s Promise are among other challengers of the Vanderbilt Handicap, who also worked out with others on 1 August.
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