Trainer Tony O'Sullivan has gone on the record as saying that stable star Alsace Hanover is close to making his 2012 charted debut, and, also, that his shot at a Pepsi North America Cup title is days away from qualifying
.
While in discussion with the Woodbine Entertainment Group, O'Sullivan said that four-year-old Alsace Hanover is "about two to three weeks from qualifying."
O'Sullivan went on to say that his world record holder is training well and that he has no worries about his charge at all.
"If he comes back as good as he was last year and we can manage him, I don't see why he can't go with them (older horses)," O'Sullivan said.
As Alsace Hanover is a few weeks shy of Mohawk qualifying sessions, O'Sullivan said that Sing For Me George, the 20-1 seventh choice in Trot Magazine's 2012 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, is scheduled to put in a charted mile this coming week.
"He'll qualify next Thursday at Mohawk," O'Sullivan said. "He'll definitely go twice, maybe three times --- more depending on what he does in the second qualifier. The first time I just want him to operate 'okay' and come out of it well --- I'm not really worried about how fast he goes the first time."
The trainer said that Sing For Me George's schedule is aimed at the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes and the North America Cup, but it will all depend on how he comes back. "I'll get a race into him. I'll probably take him to Yonkers for the second sire stakes," said the conditioner, stipulating that the targeted race depends much on how the gelding qualifies.
"I think he's got the gears (to compete with the top colts from last season). He'll need toughness, obviously, as a three-year-old. Maybe he'll be better, maybe the others won't be as good, we'll see, but I definitely think he can hold his own, for sure."