Accelerate on Fast Track for Dirt Mile

Less accomplished than some of the other 3-year-olds he’ll be facing, it might be unwise to dismiss Hronis Racing’s Accelerate Nov. 4 in the Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I).

“Three-year-old colts improve a lot at this time of year,” said trainer John Sadler at Santa Anita Park. "We think he’s got a lot of upside and we’re still sort of scratching the surface. This is a little aggressive—that’s for sure—but it’s in own backyard, so we’ll give it a go.”

It’s a little aggressive in the fact Accelerate has only run in two stakes—a half-length win in the $100,000 Shared Belief Aug. 26 at Del Mar and a head score over Semper Fortis in the nine-furlong Los Alamitos Derby (gr. II) Sept. 24.

BALAN: Accelerate Finds Just Enough in Los Al Derby

“It’s a big step up in class,” Sadler admitted. “But he’s undefeated around two turns. We sprinted him three times. He was second and third, and ran well, but when we ran him around two turns, he was really quite brilliant. He won (his maiden going a mile at Del Mar) by 8 3/4 lengths. We moved him up quickly—we skipped the allowance condition and the stakes starts fit his schedule.

Accelerate is 20-1 on the morning line, a price far higher for the more accomplished sophomoresGun Runner (9-2), Tom's Ready (12-1), and Super Derby (gr. III) winner Texas Chrome (20-1), but Sadler is not dismayed.

“We’re at home here and I think the horses in the race are all pretty equal, with the exception of Dortmund. I think Dortmund is a prohibitive favorite and if we can be on the board in the two-three-four slot, it’d be fun to do it.”

Accelerate is a son of Lookin At Lucky   out of Issues, by Awesome Again  . Bred in Kentucky by Mike Abrams, agent David Ingordo picked the colt out for Hronis Racing at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale for $380,000.

Accelerate is the fourth foal out of Issues. Her second one is stakes winner Amarish and her third was the stakes-winning Daddy D T who finished third in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IT) for Kostas Hronis and Sadler. Daddy D T was a $250,000 buy at Keeneland September in 2013.

“We’re familiar with the family,” Sadler said. “We actually bid on their half sister at Keeneland this year but didn’t buy her.

She sold to Lothenbach Stables for $325,000.

“I like Lookin At Lucky (as a sire),” Sadler said. “He’s a horse that is coming on. I view him as a poor-man’s Curlin  . All of a sudden he got hot and I think this horse can do that, too.”