**Please see the attached photo of Apriority, credit
Friday, April 8, 2011
Contact: John Scheinman
(718) 659-2244
ALL EYES ON APRIORITY IN CARTER HANDICAP
The reason? The 4-year-old son of Grand Slam has won four of his past five starts, crowned by a near track-record-breaking performance in an optional-claiming race March 5 at Gulfstream Park that earned a 113 Beyer Speed Figure. Only Apriority’s stablemate, Big Drama, and 3-year-old Maclean’s Music have posted bigger numbers this year.
Asked if he was surprised to be receiving so much interest in a race featuring Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Morning Line, multiple-graded stakes winner Kensei, Aqueduct inner dirt track star Calibrachoa and Yawanna Twist, trainer David Fawkes said “No, he’s a nice horse. I think he deserves some attention.”
Apriority was transferred into Fawkes’ barn last fall after four nondescript maiden races in
“His morning breezes were very good, but the first time I ran him on the turf he wasn’t that impressive,” Fawkes said. “It was a mediocre bunch, and he ran mediocre. The only reason we even ran him on the turf was we couldn’t get a [dirt] race to go at Calder.”
The next race, though, was an eye-opener, a gate-to-wire score on the front end, four lengths in front, at seven furlongs.
“Then I thought we had a pretty nice horse,” Fawkes said. “It was a tough maiden race. Then the horse kept getting better and better. He won back at five-eighths [of a mile]. Then we go into Gulfstream, and we expect to go into a two-other-than [allowance race] opening weekend. He ended up having to run a flat mile. That horse he beat, Groomedforvictory, was a nice horse. They were older horses, more seasoned than him, going a mile, and he stepped up to the plate.”
With that, Fawkes grew ambitious, sending Apriority across the country for the Sunshine Millions Sprint on January 29 at Santa Anita. With jockey Rafael Bejarano aboard, Apriority briefly lost his footing on the backstretch and dropped off the pace before closing with a rush and missing by a head to the talented Amazombie.
His next start was the 6 ½-furlong smasher at
“We schooled him at the gate [Friday], and hopefully he stands good and breaks good,” Fawkes said.
A Grade 1 victory against the talented Carter field would arguably give Fawkes the two best sprinters in the country, with Big Drama, the 2010 Eclipse Champion Sprinter.
“I’ve always liked sprint horses better than other horses,” Fawkes said. “I’ve always liked watching a sprint race more than a route. Does that make me a better sprint trainer? I don’t know.”
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