Kentucky Jockey Club

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Saturday’s $250,000 Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2) lost a major contender when
Wicked Style (Macho Uno) was scratched Thursday by trainer Rusty Arnold, but the
1 1/16-mile test still shapes up to be an interesting race. HALO NAJIB (Halo’s
Image) will make his third lifetime start off a pair of encouraging
performances, and we’ll give him a slight edge over his six rivals.

A debut winner going 6 1/2 furlongs at Keeneland, Halo Najib stretched out to
a mile for the Iroquois S. (G3) last time at Churchill and rallied strongly to
just miss, finishing second by a half-length to the promising Court Vision
(Gulch), who is the likely heavy favorite in Saturday’s Remsen S. (G2) at
Aqueduct. The Dale Romans-trained Halo Najib received a commendable 95 BRIS
Speed rating last time, and he’s posted a couple of nice works over the track in
preparation for this start. Kent Desormeaux will pick up the mount, and we’ll
look for the chestnut colt to stretch out to two turns successfully.

COOL COAL MAN (Mineshaft) is a big threat. A 10 1/4-length maiden winner two
starts back at Delaware Park, Cool Coal Man rolled to an impressive 2 1/4-length
allowance score at this distance when making his Churchill debut last time,
registering a field-best 101 Speed rating in the process. The Nick Zito runner
will be forwardly placed under Rafael Bejarano, and he could prove impossible to
get past late.

RACECAR RHAPSODY (Tale of the Cat) is another win candidate. After completely
missing the break in his debut two starts back, the bay colt rallied boldly from
far back to finish a good second. He improved off that showing last time,
dominating maiden special weight rivals at Keeneland, and Racecar Rhapsody owns
plenty of stakes potential for trainer Kenny McPeek. The late-running colt could
have plenty to say in the stretch run here.

ANAK NAKAL (Victory Gallop) finished a respectable second when making his
stakes debut in the Nashua S. (G3) last time, and the lightly raced colt owns
room for improvement. With century-topping BRIS Late Pace ratings in both career
starts, the uncoupled Zito runner is one to consider for the exotics at what
figures to be a decent price.

MYTHICAL PEGASUS (Fusaichi Pegasus) is another top three candidate. A good
third in the Futurity S. (G2) two starts back, the D. Wayne Lukas youngster
faltered following a rough start in the Iroquois last time. Mythical Pegasus
owns good speed, and he’s eligible to rebound with a good showing on the front
end here.

REAL APPEAL (Successful Appeal) gamely got up to break his maiden last time,
but we’ll give the gray colt a race against winners. BLACKBERRY ROAD (Gone
West), who will make his first start since finishing third in the Kentucky Cup
Juvenile (G3) in late September, doesn’t look fast enough to challenge.