Grade 1 winner LION TAMER (Will’s Way) will make his five-year-old bow on
Saturday when he takes on seven rivals in the $200,000 Richter Scale Breeders’
Cup Sprint Championship H. (G2). The seven-furlong test will be the Todd
Pletcher trainee’s first start since annexing the November 27 Cigar Mile H. (G1)
at Aqueduct. He’ll return to Gulfstream Park, where he captured last year’s
running of the Richter Scale by three parts of a length, as the 119-pound
highweight under jockey Jose Santos.
Among those Lion Tamer will have to face are SILVER WAGON (Wagon Limit), the
2003 victor of the Hopeful S. (G1), and CLOCK STOPPER (Gilded Time), who ran
sixth by only 3 1/4 lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) last season. Both
already own a start for this year, with the former posting a 1 3/4-length win
over fellow Richter Scale rival VALUE PLUS (Unbridled’s Song) in a Gulfstream
allowance in early February. That was the Ralph Ziadie charge’s second race off
a 10-month layoff and he’ll have to carry 115 pounds. Clock Stopper comes into
this one off a second in the Colonel Power H. at Fair Grounds in January and
will tote 117 pounds.
The complete Richter Scale field, with riders and weights, is Value Plus, Joe
Bravo, 114; SIR OSCAR (Halo’s Image), Carlos Olivero, 114; Lion Tamer; SIR
SHACKLETON (Miswaki), Javier Castellano, 116; MISTER FOTIS (Diligence), Jorge
Chavez, 113; BUILT UP (Homebuilder), Eddie Castro, 113; Clock Stopper, Edgar
Prado; and Silver Wagon, Cornelio Velasquez.