Winchester might fancy the Sword Dance over the Del Mar Handicap for trainer Christophe Clement
Christophe Clement trained 6-year-old horse, Winchester’s, next start looks indecisive, as trainer Christophe Clement decides whether to run the Grade 1 winner in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer held at Saratoga or buy the horse a little more time and then send
him to run in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap with the purse of $200,000 on 28 August, 2011.
The son of Theatrical, out of Run Charger by Spectrum, Winchester has had a lone start this year, when he ran in the Grade 3 Stars and Stripes held at Arlington Park, over at a distance of 1 ½ miles on synthetic surface.
The six-year-old horse under jockey C Velasquez got narrowly defeated by Free Fighter to finish second in the race, with the final time of a slow 2 minutes and 31.98 seconds.
The horse might have been held back this year, because of his hectic schedule in the 2010 season. Clement ran his “then 5”, Winchester in eight races altogether, with four Grade 1 races and other one or two grade 2 and 3 races.
Performance wise, Winchester responded well with eight races he finished six times on the money, with 3 wins including a win in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on 2 October, 2010.
It was run under his usual jockey C Velasquez, as the pair romped past rivals on the Belmont Turf, run over at a distance of 1 ½ miles, and covered the distance in 2 minutes and 36.09 seconds.
In the earlier part of the 2010 season, Winchester managed a magnificent win in the highly contested Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap held at Belmont Park turf, over at a distance of 1 ¼ miles on 5 June, 2010.
Prior to that race, Winchester won an allowance race, to get things going in his season’s third start at Keeneland over one and a half mile on 21 April, 2010.
Despite the indecisive nature of the issue, his connections look inclined towards the Grade Sword Dance held at Saratoga, where the horse is already based and turned in a five furlong breeze in 59.89 seconds at the Oklahoma turf.
The Sword Dancer is running on turf, and Winchester runs well on turf so, it’s all looking good for him
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