Susan Moulton's Grade 2-winning sprinter Manny Wah enters the $100,000 Duncan F. Kenner Memorial Stakes looking to turn the tables on two who finished ahead of him in December's Richie Scherer. For now, Big Chief Racing, Rocker O Ranch, and Keith Desormeaux's Surveillance and Tamaroak Partners' Bango are hung out on the also-eligible list as an oversubscribed field of eleven entered for the contentious 5 1/2 furlong turf sprint at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
Slated as race 11 on Saturday's 14-race “Road to the Derby Day” card, post time for the 70th running of the Kenner is 5:00 p.m. CT. The program features the Lecomte (G3) and the Silverbulletday, prep races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks which will award 20-8-6-4-2 qualifying points to the top-five finishers.
Saturday's forecast calls for rain in the early evening, which will increase the likelihood that Surveillance and the almost career-millionaire Bango draw in.
A 7-year-old horse by Will Take Charge, Manny Wah has the 9-5 morning-line target painted on his back as he'll try to win his second Kenner after scorching home to take the 2021 edition in his first ever run on the grass. Winner of the Phoenix (G2) this fall at Keeneland, the Wayne Catalano trainee backed that big run up with an impressive fourth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, just 2 1/2 lengths behind Elite Power.
“He is doing unbelievable,” Wayne Catalano said. “I can't explain that last race. I'm excited to get him on the turf course.”
A fan-favorite at Fair Grounds, the story on how Manny Wah got his name is a good one.
“You know that horse named Man o' War, right?” Catalano said. “When he retired and visitors would come to see him, an old groom who worked on Man o' War's farm would ask them 'who do you want to see, Manny Wah?' The owner read an article about that and named her horse Manny Wah.”
Drawn in post No. 2 with Corey Lanerie named as his rider, with just five of his 36 starts on the turf, Manny Wah will likely run rain or shine.
Keith Desormeaux's Surveillance, winner of the Thanksgiving Classic and Richie Scherer already this meet, sits waiting on the also eligible list needing two horses to scratch to draw in. With all five wins coming at Fair Grounds, including breaking his maiden over the turf course, the barn reports the 6-year-old by Constitution is feeling happy and training as well as ever.
Beyond those two, there are a host of runners who could post the upset in the Kenner.
Here's the field for the Duncan F. Kenner from the rail out (with jockey, trainer, and morning line):
- Pyron (Declan Carroll, Al Stall Jr., 10-1);
- Manny Wah (Corey Lanerie, Wayne Catalano, 9-5);
- Bolder (Tyler Gaffalione, Steve Asmussen, 9-2);
- Evan Sing (Colby Hernandez, Al Stall Jr., 6-1);
- Angaston (Mitchell Murrill, Lon Wiggins, 3-1);
- Sign of War (Emmanuel Nieves, Cesar Govea, 8-1);
- Yankee Seven (Aubrie Green, Cesar Govea, 20-1);
- Kennesaw (Jareth Loveberry, Eduardo Rodriguez, 15-1);
- AE – My Pal Mattie (Gerardo Mora, Lee Thomas, 4-1);
- AE – Surveillance (James Graham, Keith Desormeaux, 3-1);
- AE – Bango (Tyler Gaffalione, Greg Foley, 7-2).
The post ‘Excited To Get Him On The Turf’: Manny Wah Aims For Rebound In Kenner Memorial appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
