Strike Power Back on Main Track in Fall Highweight

On a day when families will be giving thanks for what means the most to them, Courtlandt Farms' Strike Power will no doubt appreciate getting back to what he does best.

After what trainer Mark Hennig jokingly labeled a "turf debacle," the 4-year-old Speightstown  colt will return to a main track sprint Nov. 28 in the $200,000 Fall Highweight Handicap (G3), a six-furlong test that tops the Thanksgiving Day card at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Strike Power, winner of the seven-furlong Swale Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park at 3, will tote 128 pounds in the Fall Highweight, but nonetheless will be getting four pounds from the expected highweight, Sagamore Farm's Recruiting Ready.

"We're getting some weight from Recruiting Ready, but it's all pretty even. It's not like it was when I was younger when there were bigger spreads. It's still a neat race," said the 54-year-old Hennig.

One of the sport's most unique stakes, the Fall Highweight dates back to an age when carrying weight was akin to a badge of honor for top Thoroughbreds. The Hall of Fame filly Ta Wee won in 1970 with 140 pounds while Mt. Livermore toted the same weight while winning in 1985.

Mr. Amore Stable's grade 1-winning Firenze Fire stands as the 134-pound highweight among the nine entrants in the 106th edition of the weighty affair, but trainer Jason Servis said Nov. 25 the 4-year-old will likely skip the Aqueduct race in favor of the $200,000 Fabulous Strike Stakes Nov. 27 at Penn National Race Course.

"It's pretty much a done deal. We're going to the Fabulous Strike," Servis said about a stakes which is named, ironically enough, after the winner of the 2008 Fall Highweight who carried 136 pounds that day.

Servis also entered M and A Racing's Happy Farm in both the Fall Highweight and the Fabulous Strike and said he was undecided about where to send the 5-year-old Ghostzapper  gelding.

Strike Power was on the Triple Crown trail at 3, finishing second in the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) in his third career start before an eighth-place finish in the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) convinced Hennig to focus on sprints. After a string of subpar starts, he was sidelined for eight months by a breathing issue and started his 4-year-old campaign with a sharp five-length score in an allowance optional claimer April 25 at Gulfstream Park.

He then finished a game second behind multiple grade 2 winner Catalina Cruiser  in the True North Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park and faced an even tougher customer in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, where he battled for the early lead with probable male sprint champion Mitole . That duel caught up with both horses as Strike Power finished fifth and Mitole was third, suffering his lone loss in 2019.

"He and Mitole took a lot of swings at each other in the Vanderbilt and it took a toll on both of us, mainly us," Hennig said. "It's no disgrace that we lost that one."

Before racing at the Spa ended, Hennig received the answer to a nagging question. With plenty of turf on Strike Power's dam side, Hennig originally tried the homebred son of the Medaglia d'Oro  mare Gold d'Oro on the turf in Saratoga's 2018 Better Talk Now Stakes.

Gold d'Oro was grade 3 placed on turf and is a half sister to grade 3 turf winner Adriano.

When Strike Power finished ninth in the Better Talk Now, Hennig believed the breathing ailment may have been the culprit.

"When we tried him on turf as a 3-year-old, he had developed a breathing issue that needed some surgery. So we attributed the bad effort to that," he said.

With owners Donald and Donna Adam's 4-year-old back in top health, Hennig entered him in the Aug. 30 Lucky Coin Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint at the Spa. The results were equally disappointing as the 2018 journey on turf as Strike Power finished fifth, beaten 15 1/2 lengths.

"When he came back and was running well, we breezed him on turf at Oklahoma (Saratoga's training track) and he did well," Hennig said. "But I guess good horses will breeze well on anything."

With turf firmly out of the equation, Hennig decided to give Strike Power some time off and freshen him for three months for a campaign that promises to include the Fall Highweight, where he will be ridden by John Velazquez, followed by some sprint stakes at Gulfstream Park.

"He always runs well fresh. He won his debut and won the Swale off six weeks rest," Hennig said. "We got away from that to go to the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby, but after Saratoga this year we thought it would be best to run him a little fresher. He loves Gulfstream and we'll look to run there if all goes well. He seems to have an affinity for the surface."

Recruiting Ready, a 5-year-old son of Algorithms  trained by Stanley Hough, is coming off a decisive, front-running 3 3/4-length triumph in the Bet On Sunshine Stakes at Churchill Downs. He was fourth, only beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in Keeneland's Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Strakes (G2) in his prior try and three starts before that and was third, a nose behind Strike Power, in the True North.

He has nine wins in 25 starts with earnings of $799,189.

"He's doing good and came back out of his works good," said Hough, whose horse will concede as much as 10 pounds to the other starters. "If he's right, he gives you everything he has. You can't ask for anything more than that."

The field also includes Stan the Man, who has not raced since finishing fifth in the June 7 True North for trainer John Terranova II and owner Long Lake Stable. He will carry 127 pounds.

The Fall Highweight will be the seventh of nine races at Aqueduct with a post time of 2:50 p.m. ET.

The holiday card, which starts at 11:50 a.m., also includes the $150,000 Winter Memories Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies and the $100,000 Central Park Stakes for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf. It kicks off a stretch of 11 stakes in four days—four of them graded—at the Big A.