Hansen back on track after the Gotham and Wood Memorial could be the colt’s next start
It is time for the 2-year-old champion colt, Hansen, to go big or go home and after his lackluster performance in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, Hansen was expected to get back on track in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct over a distance of 1 1/16 miles.
The Michael Maker trained 3-year-colt was sent without blinkers for the first time in his career, and the decision to give him a broader view of his surroundings worked amazingly well for the colt, as he destroyed the Gotham lineup when he beat My Adonis
by a convincing margin of three lengths, and covered the distance in 1 minute and 43.84 seconds.
The Kentucky bred son of Tapit, out of mare Stormy Sunday by Sir Cat, Hansen departed to Turfway Park on 5 March, 2012, where he will prepare for his next run, which is expected to be in New York next month. He was rested in his stall at Aqueduct after his
win in the Gotham Stakes.
After winning the Gotham Stakes, Hansen’s connections immediately announced that a run in the Grade 3, $500,000 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on 24 March, 2012, is a possibility.
Kendall E. Hansen and Sky Chai Stable owned Hansen is expected to run in the all important Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial before his Triple Crown debut race, and trainer Michael Maker thinks that it’s a good spot before
the Wood Memorial.
He revealed further that it was part of their plan to run Hansen in the Gotham Stakes, and he is expecting that the colt will be on the same page come the Wood Memorial.
Prior to the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, Hansen was perfect in three starts, winning his maiden at first asking at Turfway Park, and then nabbing the Kentucky Cup Juvenile over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface, stretched out in distance from five and a half
furlongs to 1 1/16 miles.
The Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at about 1 1/16 miles last fall at Churchill Downs was his award winning win, but after a little hiccup in the Holy Bull, Hansen is back on track after bagging the Gotham Stakes.
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