Gun Runner makes 'Razorback' Dubai prep

The name of a Grade 1 winner at Churchill Downs can go above the title in a major race at any track.

Gun Runner finished third in last year's Kentucky Derby but capped his 3-year-old season with a November victory against older horses in Churchill's Grade 1 Clark Handicap. With winner Nyquist and runner-up Exaggerator retired, Gun Runner is the top returnee from last year's Derby and makes his 4-year-old debut today at Oaklawn Park in the first Monday running of the Razorback Handicap.

Moved to February and bumped to $500,000, the Grade 3 Razorback becomes a prep for the Grade 1 Dubai World Cup instead of a lesser March alternative to the $10 million race overseas.

Gun Runner, expected odds-on favorite in his Oaklawn debut, could become the first Dubai winner to prep in Hot Springs. Something to consider as the Razorback shares equal billing with the Grade 3 $500,000 Southwest, a Kentucky Derby prep, on Oaklawn's Presidents Day card.

Gun Runner came to Oaklawn after a planned trip to Florida for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup fell through following an outbreak of equine herpes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Champion Arrogate, in his first start since the Breeders' Cup Classic, made a sparkling 4-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park in the final race for two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome.

David Fiske, manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which co-owns Gun Runner with Three Chimneys Farm, said the Razorback was the "next most attractive race on the calendar." The Razorback, he said, is a possible bridge to the March 25 World Cup at Meydan Racecourse, won last year by California Chrome.

Florent Geroux keeps the mount on Gun Runner, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen and breaking from the rail post with 122 pounds. Gun Runner acclimated himself to Oaklawn with a five-furlong "bullet" workout of 59.80 seconds a week ago.

"The trepidation I have is the weather," Fiske said. "His two worst races have been on an off track. That would be my greatest concern. ... I think he's ready."

California-based trainer Bob Hess Jr. counters with Blue Tone, last-out winner of the Grade 3 $200,000 San Gabriel at Santa Anita. The 8-year-old Birdstone gelding would like a wet surface, said Hess, shipping east in part because of the Razorback purse while acknowledging that Gun Runner is the horse to beat.

Jose Ortiz rides Blue Tone, the 9-2 second choice to 4-5 Gun Runner, from post three under 116 pounds.

"He's ready to run," Hess said of Blue Tone. "Gun Runner, obviously, is a huge, huge obstacle, a horse we respect. Hopefully, we can run second to him. That's all I can say. We're trying to win, but a second wouldn't be too shabby, either."

Any other Razorback winner would rock the toteboard, although Domain's Rap won the Fifth Season Jan. 13 and finished second to Upstart in the Razorback last year. Also entered are Smack Smack, Hawaakom, Chief of Staff, Dazzling Gem and Goats Town, though trainer Brad Cox said Sunday that Dazzling Gem will be scratched and remain at Fair Grounds for Saturday's Grade 3 $125,000 Mineshaft Handicap.

The Razorback, race 7 at Oaklawn, is set for 4:09 p.m.

Sports on 02/20/2017

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