Million Title Defense on Line for 'Pizza Man'
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Photo: Benoit Photo
The Pizza Man wins the 2015 Hollywood Turf Cup.
Coming off a four-month layoff, Midwest Thoroughbreds' The Pizza Man is back in action June 18 in the $200,000 Wise Dan (gr. IIT), run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course at Churchill Downs.
Last time out, the 7-year-old English Channel gelding was fifth, beaten 3 3/4 lengths, in the Feb. 6 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (gr. IT). Trainer Roger Brueggemann blamed the horse's distaste for the Gulfstream turf for his performance.
"He really didn't like the Gulfstream turf at all," Brueggemann said. "That was the first time I had him on something that he didn't like."
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Last year was Illinois-bred The Pizza Man's best campaign yet, featuring a trio of graded stakes victories in the Stars and Stripes (gr. IIIT) and Arlington Million XXXIII (gr. IT) at Arlington International Racecourse before rounding out his 6-year-old campaign with a win in the Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. IIT) at Del Mar.
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"We're hoping he can still compete as a year older but I know how I feel when I'm a year older," Brueggemann said. "Hopefully he'll be okay, so far he's been training real well so we'll have to see what happens."
The Pizza Man boasts a 10-8-1-0 record at 1 1/16 miles, but has found some of his better success when running at longer distances.
"He can run long and short distances," Brueggemann said. "He probably should have won the Shadwell Mile last year but that's just my opinion. He can go any distance a mile and up. I think this race will be a nice little test for him. It looks like there's going to be some nice horses in here."
Should his performance on Saturday evening be a good one, Brueggemann would send the horse to Arlington once more for a defense of his Arlington Million title.
"That's the plan but we might run him once before that so hopefully everything goes okay. A lot depends on how he's doing," Brueggemann said.
A possible start between the Wise Dan and the Arlington Million could come in either the $125,000 Arlington Handicap or the $100,000 Stars and Stripes, both grade III events on the Arlington turf.