Calibrachoa to face the toughest challenge of his career in the Carter Handicap

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Calibrachoa to face the toughest challenge of his career in the Carter Handicap
With seven wins in eight starts at Aqueduct, the Todd Pletcher trained 5-year-old horse, Calibrachoa, is nearly unbeatable at the New York race course, but in the Grade 1, 400,000 Carter Handicap he faces a predicament that he has never faced before, at least in a single race.
Owned by Mike Repole, who runs him under the banner of Repole Stable, Calibrachoa will be racing against million-dollar earners which include the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner in 2011, Shackleford, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, Caleb’s Posse, and Nicholas Zito trained ace runner, Jackson Bend.
The deadly trio will look to overthrow the immortal over the Aqueduct’s dirt course, but it will not be an easy job.
One thing Calibrachoa’s adversaries have against him going into the Carter Handicap is that the race will be contested on the main track, where Calibrachoa he won the last year’s Grade 3 Bold Ruler Stakes at about seven furlongs, and then he lost to, To Honor and Serve, in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, finishing third on the day.
However, he is 5 of 5 in the inner track. “I’ve been watching New York racing for 30 years, and the Carter has always been exciting. This is the kind of race that made me a fan of racing,” said Mike Repole, owner of Calibrachoa. “This should count as two Grade I’s, whoever wins it."
The Kentucky bred son of Southern Image, out of mare Fort Lauderdale by Montbrook, Calibrachoa started off his 2012 campaign with a win in the Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes, where he earned a career best Beyer Speed Figure of 111.
Then he downed Caleb’s Posse in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes, and going into the Carter, Calibrachoa is installed as the 4 to 1 morning light favourite, and he will carry 118 pounds.
“We have a lot of respect for Shackleford, and Jackson’s Bend’s reputation speaks for itself," said Michael McCarthy, Pletcher's assistant. "We’re going to go over there thinking our horse is going to fire his best race and let the chips fall where they may.”