Trappe Shot declared favourite to win the six furlong Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga on 7 August
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin prepares his 4-year-old Trappe Shot for the Grade 1 $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga on 7 August, 2011. Eight older sprinters will battle it out at the Spa to springboard themselves to the top of the sprinter standings.
The 7 to 5 morning line favourite, Trappe Shot, is coming off an impressive victory in the Grade 2 True North Handicap at a distance of 6 furlongs under torrid conditions on a muddy track.
He was able to pull off a massive 8 ½ lengths win.
The 11 June, 2011, dash had the likes of This Ones for Phil and Calibrachoa, but Trappe Shot, under John Velazquez, bolted past his opponents to show his good form in grand style.
Mill House’s Trappe Shot, is unbeaten this season with two of two. He went on to win the Waldoboro Stakes prior to the True North Handicap, also a six furlong dash.
The race was held at Belmont Park on 11 May, 2011, on dirt and the finish time from John Velazquez and Trappe Shot was 1 minute and 9.03 seconds.
Although, it is not going to be easy for the 4-year-old Tapit colt to maintain his winning streak when he will be facing the likes of Kenneth McPeek trained Grade 1 winner, Nobel’s Promise, and the True North Handicap rival, Calibrachoa, who also landed
graded stakes wins, twice this year.
The field will be filled with potential winners and, the important member of the Vanderbilt cast is the grade 1 winner, David Fawkes trained Apriority.
The son of Tapit, out of Shopping by Private Account, Trappe Shot, has finally found his range in terms of distance before going two turns on the tracks the whole of 2010.
He ran the Long Branch Stakes, the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and also the Grade 1 Travers Stakes in the year 2010.
Trappe Shot encouraged Kiaran McLaughlin to run him above a mile, when the colt won his first start at 1 1/16 miles at Long Branch Stakes on 10 July, 2010. Trappe Shot catapult himself from 6 furlongs sprints to 1 1/16 mile winner.
That prompted his inclusion in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, which wasn’t a disaster at all.
Trappe Shot was just shy of 2 lengths from winning the 1 1/8 mile event, as he finished second at the prestigious Monmouth meet.
With such good performances in the longer distances, Trappe Shot connections had to try him in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes.
The race under jockey Alan Garcia was run over at a distance of 1 ¼ miles, but the colt wasn’t too lucky this time as his finished 9th on 28 August, 2010.
Another six furlongs to top under J Velazquez, but for now Trappe Shot sits at the top of eight older sprinters.
Tags: