By Alan Carasso
With Eclipse Award winner Runhappy (Super Saver) still missing in action, the state of the male sprint division is in some disarray, but Saturday's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. could answer at least a few questions.
Anchor Down (Tapit) is the 5-2 selection on Travis Stone's morning line, but hardly seems the kind of favorite to back with any real confidence. A longshot third–demoted to fourth–behind stablemate Blofeld (Quality Road) after setting the pace in the one-mile GII Gulfstream Park H. Mar. 5, the half-brother to former 'TDN Rising Star' Sweet Lulu (Mr. Greeley) rounded out the super in the GI Carter H. Apr. 9, then walloped his rivals by nearly seven lengths in the GIII Westchester S. May 7. He remained at the mile trip for the GI Metropolitan H. June 10 and rounded out a Tapit exacta some 14 1/4 lengths behind Frosted. The Alto Racing runner, who has the rail draw to deal with, will need to be at his very best cutting back to six here against some in-form rivals.
'Rising Star' Holy Boss (Street Boss) earned the first graded success of his career with an impressive 2 1/4-length defeat of Requite (Warrior's Reward) in the GII Amsterdam S. on this very program 12 months ago and was scarcely embarrassed when third as the favorite behind Runhappy in the GI King's Bishop S. Though he has registered triple-digit Beyers in each of his three runs this season, he has yet to truly threaten, including a fifth behind Catalina Red (Munnings) in the GII Churchill Downs S. on the Derby undercard May 7. The Jerry Durant runner was most recently third, a spot ahead of the somewhat disappointing Catalina Red, in the GII True North S. June 10, and perhaps a return to the Spa can move him up a few lengths.
With just a half-dozen career starts under his belt, Requite is the least-experienced of the Vanderbilt contestants, but it can be argued that he possesses the greatest upside. The homebred has made just one appearance since last year's Amsterdam, a dominating 3 1/2-length success in the June 4 Parrot Key S. at Gulfstream Park. He has since been legged up with a trio of solid works over at Oklahoma and can go forward or take back if the speed is on.
The lightly raced A. P. Indian (Indian Charlie) makes just the 17th start of his career, but has won three straight coming into this, including a head success from 'Rising Star' Marking (Bernardini) in the GIII Belmont Sprint Championship S. on Stars and Stripes weekend July 9.
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