Highland Cat In Tough

- Highland Cat has been entered in the first at Aqueduct on Wednesday - a six furlong sprint for $25K claimers who have never won twice. That is different from what we were originally told. Though it's a lower claiming level, the race came up extremely tough, with competition that seems far over his head. It looks as if the winner would have to run an 80 Beyer, and Highland Cat got a 61 for his win against 15K maiden claimers. The managing partner sent an email saying:

Quite frankly, this looks way too tough for him at this point. I'll consult with Bill about whether we want to run anyway or whether we should scratch, take the 7-10 day penalty and look for a softer, N2L spot. The problem is that those races often don't get used, and there not a lot of point to keeping the horse in the barn.

To me, the idea should be to get another race or two in him before the turf season starts. But you don't want him to lose confidence. The possible saving grace about this spot is that there's tons of speed; at least three entrants who seem committed to the lead. So the race could fall apart. Highland Cat would need that to happen and more in order to be competitive in the race.