By Alan Carasso
The two American-trained entries for Sunday's 1-billion (US$887k) Keeneland Korea Cup (1800m) and 700-million (US$620k) Keeneland Korea Sprint (1200m) were handed inside draws when post positions were drawn Thursday morning at the Coex Convention Centre in Seoul.
The Ken McPeek-trained The Truth Or Else (Yes It's True) is the higher-profile of the two U.S.-based runners and he was allocated gate one in a full field of 15 sprinters that also includes Korean Triple Crown winner Power Blade (Kor) (Menifee), local champion Perdido Pomeroy (Pomeroy) and Hong Kong's Lucky Year (Aus) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). McPeek, one of a handful of American trainers not afraid to travel his horses, told Dubai Racing Channel's Laura King that the inside stall will not inconvenience The Truth Or Else.
“He's not a horse you have to commit with, you let him get away good, you hope that they come back to him,” McPeek said. “When he's drawn outside, he's gotten hung extremely wide in turns. I would rather he had some sort of excuse to have to stay inside and the one post does that.
He continued, “He's a bit of a fighter. He runs through about anything and you're going to see him come running late. A reason I came is that he likes it deep. He's a big, powerful horse and he'll get through anything. He's had trouble when the track is extremely fast and it played to speed. But when it played heavy, he was extremely tough to beat.” (Click for the entire interview)
Winner of six of his 32 career starts and better than $600,000, Harold Lerner's The Truth Or Else was most recently an even seventh in the Don Bernhardt S. at Ellis Park July 22.
Barry K. Schwartz's Papa Shot (Distorted Humor) is one of 11 horses entered for the Cup, a race that has also attracted defending champion Chrysolite (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) from Japan and Circuit Land (Mizzen Mast) representing Hong Kong. An allowance winner in state-bred restricted company in early May at Belmont, the 5-year-old has since hit the board in a trio of New York-bred stakes. The Linda Rice trainee drew gate four and is likely to be ridden prominently.
Dylan Davis has the mount on both American horses.
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