Lexington, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – Summer Front will finally get a chance to
race on Keeneland’s turf course Friday as the 6-year-old heads a field of
seven in the $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile.
The Mile has been won the last two years by Wise Dan, the 2012 and 2013
Horse of the Year. The 8-year-old gelding, however, will not defend his wins
as he is still recovering from injury.
Summer Front, trained by Christophe Clement for Waterford Stable, is the 8-5
program favorite and will start from post 3 with Victor Espinoza getting a
second straight call on the horse.
The 6-year-old was second in the 2012 Lexington Stakes on Keeneland’s recently
replaced synthetic main track and the following year was seventh in the
Shadwell Turf Mile when taken off the turf.
Summer Front began this season with a second to Ring Weekend on March 7 in the
Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita. Last year he won the Fort Lauderdale at
Gulfstream Park but was unable to find the winner’s circle the remainder of
2014.
“He’s really good. He feels like a million dollars,” Clement assistant Lee
Vickers said Wednesday morning. “All systems go.
“He needs to capture that elusive Grade 1. He’s actually been unlucky. He
should have had a couple in the bag.”
Summer Front, fourth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile, has earned $1,074,140
in 22 lifetime starts with eight wins, six seconds and three thirds.
Trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle Jack Milton, the 7-2 second pick, for the
Mile with Javier Castellano again in the saddle. Owned by Gary Barber, Jack
Milton will be making his second seasonal start after finishing fourth in the
Canadian Turf at Gulfstream.
“He is doing well and coming into the race the right way,” said Tristan Barry,
assistant to Pletcher. “This race was one that was on the radar for him. We
thought he ran very well in his last race. He had a wide trip that day in his
first start off a (five-month) layoff.”
The Maker’s 46 Mile will be Jack Milton’s second career start on the
Keeneland turf course, having won the Transylvania Stakes in 2013. His only
stakes win last year came in Belmont Park’s Poker followed by a fifth in Santa
Anita’s Shoemaker Mile, third in the Fourstardave at Saratoga and ninth in the
Woodbine Mile. Jack Milton has four wins in 14 career starts for $571,161.
Here is the field for the Maker’s 46 Mile in post position order: Skyring,
Martin Pedroza, 12-1; Long On Value, Joel Rosario, 4-1; Summer Front, Victor
Espinoza, 8-5; Aripeka, Julien Leparoux, 10-1; Legendary, Sheldon Russell,
8-1; Za Approval, Mike Smith, 4-1 and Jack Milton, Javier Castellano, 7-2.
The Maker’s 46 Mile has an approximate post time of 5:13 p.m. ET.
