By Bill Finley
With a deal in place to partner with Ruis Racing and with the quarantine put in place after an outbreak of equine herpes about to be lifted at the Fair Grounds, co-owner Ron Winchell believes he has cleared all hurdles and will be able to start Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream. Winchell owns the Grade I-winning colt in partnership with Three Chimneys Farm.
“We have a deal in place and we are trying to get out of New Orleans,” Winchell said. “As soon as we can get out we'll go right to Florida and ship in right before the race. Hopefully, there will be no glitches going forward.”
Winchell said he has not had any discussions with officials at the Fair Grounds or anyone involved with the Louisiana Racing Commission.
“All I know is what I've read and what everybody seems to know, that as of Jan. 21horses can leave the Fair Grounds,” he said. “He will have one more work at the Fair Grounds and we'll leave shortly after that.”
Gulfstream officials must still agree to allow Gun Runner onto the grounds, but with the herpes scare no longer a factor in New Orleans that wouldn't seem to be an issue.
The Gun Runner team had originally hoped to ship to Gulfstream well before the race and have a workout over the track. That is no longer in their plans, but Winchell doesn't think that will be a problem.
“He's training so well and doing so great I don't see it being a factor that he is going to get there late,” he said. “We did want to get him there early, but, for most, the way to go is to either get to a place early and allow them to acclimate or ship in right on top of the race. We'll be doing the latter and it should be fine.”
Winchell said he had been close to making a deal with another shareholder, but it fell through because of Gun Runner's situation. Meanwhile, Ruis was set to enter a horse of his own, War Envoy (War Front), who may have been the longest shot in the race. That made the Ruis-Winchell/Three Chimneys partnership a natural fit.
Coming off a win in the GI Clark H., Gun Runner will likely be the third choice in the race behind California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) and Arrogate (Unbridled's Song). Winchell knows it will be a tough task to defeat those horses, but he isn't afraid to give it a try in the $12 million race.
“I never enter a race thinking I have no chance to win,” he said. “With those two guys in the race I know it will be a steep task and we might be running for third money. But if our horse jumps up and the other two falter we can take advantage of that. But there's no question that those are two very good horses and even if one has a bad day the other one could easily still win.”
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