Norvsky to replace Acclamation in the Hollywood Turf Cup, but is he a viable option only time will tell
Introduced by the same connections Acclamation and Norvsky apart from that have two things in common that they are of the same age and both grew up in the Central Valley Pastures.
However, when it comes down to credentials, Acclamation takes the cake especially after his awesome 2011 season where he managed 5 wins out of 7 starts this season alone and three of those five wins were in grade 1 races and the rest weren’t too shabby as well because they came in Grade 2 events.
Acclamation is still feeling the effects of a long and hard season with a sore foot, because it takes a lot out of a horse who is 5 years-old and goes on to win 5 back to back races and if among those are tough races like Grade 1 Whittingham Memorial Handicap, Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes and Grade 1 Pacific Classic.
That is the reason why Norvsky is going to replace Acclamation in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup on 19 November, 2011, for trainer Donald Warren and owner Judy Johnston.
The California bred son of Vronsky, out of mare Fimbrelith by Flying Paster, Norvsky has been among graded stakes company only once in his entire career, in the Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes earlier this year at about a mile where he finished fourth to Liberian Freighter.
In the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup, Norvsky will be up against a field of battle tested old pros, that include Neil Drysdale trained Bourbon Bay who is the local stalwart along with Falcon Rock. The mare Miss Match and the group includes two German runners, two runners from South America and one from Ireland, and last but not the least Norvsky from Kentucky.
For now Norvsky is going to have to live up to what Acclamation had achieved earlier this season, but it is going to be a hard job coming even close to what he did, but Norvsky is going into the Turf Cup with a win under his belt in the Cal Cup Classic which might help him against the more experienced runners.
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