[Kasept]

Keen Ice in the picture for Breeders' Cup Classic
By David Grening

Keen Ice will either run in the Breeders' Cup Classic or the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Keen Ice, who upset Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers, is being considered for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, his connections said Friday.

Keen Ice, who ran third in a second-level allowance race going one mile at Belmont on Oct. 7, is scheduled to have a workout at Belmont on Sunday, and afterward trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Jerry Crawford will get together to decide whether to pre-enter for the Classic or stick to their original plan of training up to the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25. Pre-entries for all 13 Breeders’ Cup races must be made by Monday.

On Friday, Crawford was en route to New York.

“We can read a Racing Form, and we know how tough the race is going to be,” Crawford said. “It’s an incredible field. On the other hand, there aren’t many times in life where you see an intersection of the quality of a horse, the way the horse is training, the likely pace scenario, and the preferred distance that’s rarely offered – and all those things happen to be true for Keen Ice.

“We’re taking a hard look at it. In a rare moment of self-restraint, I’ve been deferring to Todd on this decision. That’s until and unless we do well in the race, then I’ll say it was my idea all along.”

Keen Ice took advantage of a favorable pace scenario when he upset American Pharoah in the Travers. That day, Frosted battled with American Pharoah on the lead.

With California Chrome and Arrogate in the Classic field, Pletcher believes the pace scenario could be favorable for Keen Ice.

“If you’re Arrogate and you want to beat California Chrome, you can’t let him go,” Pletcher said. “We’ll see.”

Keen Ice finished eighth, 6 3/4 lengths behind winner California Chrome, in the Dubai World Cup in March. When he came back, he was found to have a hind-leg fracture. He returned to the races in a one-mile race, rallying to finish third behind Wake Up in Malibu. Keen Ice galloped out very strongly under Javier Castellano.

Last Monday, Keen Ice worked a half-mile in 48.19 seconds in company with Ready Dancer. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.87 and six furlongs in 1:14.46.

“It was a good breeze,” Pletcher said. “He galloped out well, came back well.”