Lexitonian to Forego, Channel Cat to Turf Cup in KY
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Lexitonian wins the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course
Lexitonian and Channel Cat , two top-level stakes winners this year for Calumet Farm, are pointed in different directions for stakes later this summer.
Trainer Jack Sisterson said Aug. 11 that Lexitonian, last-out winner of the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course July 31, is aimed toward the $600,000 Forego Stakes (G1) there Aug. 28. Conversely, Channel Cat has an assignment in the $1 million Calumet Turf Cup (G2T) at Kentucky Downs Sept. 11.
Like Lexitonian at Saratoga, Channel Cat is a stakes winner at Kentucky Downs.
"He won down there when Todd (Pletcher trained) him," Sisterson said. "He showed an affinity for the track there. So we'll bring him back home and shoot for that race with him."
The referenced victory came as a 3-year-old in 2018, when he won the Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Derby on the all-turf oval.
Most recently, Channel Cat was fourth in the July 31 Bowling Green Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga. He took the Man o' War Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park this spring.
Both horses are Calumet Farm homebreds. Channel Cat is a 6-year-old by English Channel , who stands at Calumet. Lexitonian is a 5-year-old son of Speightstown .
Brad Kelley, owner of Calumet Farm, previously owned Kentucky Downs, located in his former hometown of Franklin, Ky.