Lane Way Returns to the Work Tab After Breeder Cup Near Miss

Lane Way returned to the work tab this morning at Santa Anita Park and was credited with a final time of 1:00.20. Our gelding always traveled well throughout the work and continued past the wire to complete six furlongs in 1:14.40.

In regards to race options, we have contemplated looking at the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship (nominations here) which is scheduled to be run on Nov. 18th. We did nominate to this spot but are unlikely to truly consider it. With potential weather this time of year, trainer Richard Mandella and our team do not feel it is worth the expense with some uncertainty of race conditions.

We will have two main options during the fall meet at Del Mar; a unique allowance optional claiming $100,000 which is open to horses that have not won $65,000 twice since July 7th or that have never won four races. Given Lane Way meets the conditions due to not having won twice since July 7th meaning he will run protected (not eligible to be claimed.) The interesting part of this race consideration is it is on the dirt. 

Obviously, we were only one horse away from running in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint but we have talked about trying him back on the dirt at some point, but it was always a tough decision to make that change given his form on the turf and the options we had in front of us. 

Our second option to consider is on Dec. 2nd, the $100,000 Stormy Liberal S. going five furlongs on the turf. The safe plan would be to go into the Stormy Liberal S but with only a $30,000 purse difference between the two races, taking a shot in the dirt allowance race could open up a few doors for us moving into the 2024 season if it were to go well. 

Lane Way has always worked well over the dirt and perhaps a little better over the Del Mar main track. He started his career there where he faced off against some quality horses like Nadal, Exaulted, and Charlatan. We are still in the early discussion with trainer Richard Mandella and would expect his class to show in either spot but the one thing we do know is that our gelding is ready to run!

We’ll make a final decision following his next work.

Lane Way the Great  :)