September, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Full Fields Set For Louisiana Cup Day; Stakes Purses Increased 25 Percent To $50,000

Full fields are set for Louisiana Cup Day at Harrah's Louisiana Downs on Saturday, September 19. First post is 3:05 pm (Central) for the eight-race card which will feature six stakes for accredited Louisiana-breds. Originally announced to run as $40,000, each of the stakes will now have a purse of $50,000 with full fields set throughout the card.

Stakes action gets underway in the second race, the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile Fillies. A very competitive field of 12 accredited 2-year-old Louisiana-bred fillies will vie six furlongs.

Five competitors from the filly's division of the $60,000 D.S. “Shine” Young Futurity on August 29 at Evangeline Downs are entered, including Larry Romero and Ron Faucheux's Mirabeau. The daughter of Bind out of the Speightstown mare, Smittystown, was bred by J. Adcock and Nathan Granger and is trained by Faucheux. She was a commanding ten-length winner, covering 5 ½ furlongs in 1:04.90 for her third victory in four career starts. The talented filly, who has been installed as the 3-2 morning-line favorite, will reunite with rider Diego Saenz.

“I wasn't too sure about running her back so quickly,” admitted Faucheux. “But there is a nice gap between this stakes and Louisiana Champions Day (in December at Fair Grounds). She is so classy and mature for her age; we're looking forward to it.”

Other contenders include Laurence Jones' Squox and Mamas Gone Crazy, owned and trained by Carl DeVille, who ran second and third, respectively, behind Mirabeau. Another filly to watch is Rue Lala, breaking her maiden impressively here on September 5 for owners Spendthrift Farm LLC and William and Corinne Heiligbrodt. The daughter of Star Guitar, who is trained by Steve Asmussen, won by 7 ¾ lengths under leading Louisiana Downs rider Joel Dominguez, who will be back in the saddle on Saturday.

Louisiana native Faucheux, who has been training since 2009, has runners in five of the six Louisiana Cup Day stakes.

“These state-bred stakes days are so important for Louisiana racing,” he added. “Everyone has gone through so much this year with the pandemic, delayed race days and hurricanes! Hats off to David Heitzmann and LTBA for pushing for Louisiana Cup Day. My owners are pleased with the purse increase to $50,000; we are ready and will be bringing a full crew up on Saturday.”

The fourth race of the afternoon is the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile for Louisiana-bred 2-year-old colts and geldings. A field of 13 will compete at six furlongs on the main track.

Allen Landry owns and trains Chu Chu's Legacy, a son of Bind, who won the $60,000 D.S. “Shine” Young Futurity division for colts and geldings. Bred in Louisiana by J. Adcock and Hume Warnell, he drew off to a four length victory on August 29, which was his second victory in three lifetime starts. The 2-1 choice boasts career earnings of $60,800. Landry will give a leg up to rider Tim Thornton, who has guided the dark bay colt to his last two victories.

“He's been doing so well, there was no reason not to run him,” Landry said of wheeling back in three weeks. “In his first start (on July 18), he got shuffled back, but made up ground. In the “Shine”, he was pressured the whole way, but drew clear on his own.”

Schnell, G'wildcat and Jimmy Two Times, who ran second, third and fifth in the “Shine” Futurity will also return to action. Schnell, a colt by Star Guitar is owned by Kaleem Shah, Inc., will make his fourth career start for Faucheux. He competed in the Grade 2, Best Pal at Del Mar on August 8, where he finished fifth.

The field also includes Von Dom, owned by Gulf Coast Stables, LLC, who won his debut at Evangeline Downs on July 30 for trainer William Meaux; Lt Bonura, who romped to a nine-length score here on August 12 for trainer Mike Stidham and Ready for Love, a half-brother to Our Lost Love, 2019 LTBA champion 2-year-old Filly.

Post time for the Louisiana Cup Juvenile will be 4:26 pm (Central).

Twelve accredited Louisiana-bred fillies and mares will take to the Franks Turf Course for the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Distaff.

Is Too, a 5-year-old daughter of Midshipman, was bred by J. Adcock and Montgomery Training Center. Owned by Baronne Farms LLC, the chestnut mare has won six of her 21 starts for trainer Edward Johnston. She surged past her six rivals in last year's edition of the stakes, but will be tested by several stakes winners on Saturday at odds of 7-2. Diego Saenz has the call aboard the talented mare, who drew post position two in the mile and one-sixteenth stakes.

“She's doing well,” said Johnston. “That's a good post for her; she likes the rail.”

Room to Finish has been installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite and will break from the rail under jockey Gerardo Mora. The 5-year-old daughter of Giant Oak was bred by Mike Meeks and is owned by Westpoint Thoroughbreds, Forge Ahead Stables and Jerry Caroom. She has earned $224,105 in 18 efforts. This will be her first start at Louisiana Downs; she ships in off a turf allowance victory on August 5 at Arlington Park.

“She's a very consistent mare,” stated trainer Wayne Catalano. “She ran second in her first two starts at Del Mar before we got her. I'm happier with her rail draw, versus the far outside.”

That far outside post belongs to multiple stakes winner Mariah's Galaxy, trained by Victor Arceneaux and owned by Riley Blanchet and Todd Matte. Regular pilot Kevin Smith has the call aboard the 6-year-old mare sired by Greeley's Galaxy. She is the high earner in the field with $420,985 banked in 27 starts. Bred by Margie K. Averett, the winner of five career stakes will also be making her debut at Louisiana Downs.

The contentious field also includes Net A Bear, a 4-year-old filly by Awesome Bet owned by Maximo Lamarche and Federico Deltoro. She is also a multiple-stakes winner for breeder Lora Pitre with victories in the 2019 Elge Rasberry at Louisiana Downs and Louisiana Champions Day Turf at Fair Grounds. Trainer Allen Landry will give a leg up to Tim Thornton. Stakes winners Yes Gorgeous and Vacherie Girl are also among the contenders in the Louisiana Cup Distaff, which will run as the fifth race on the card.

The $50,000 Louisiana Filly and Mare Sprint is another Louisiana Cup Day feature that attracted a highly competitive group of distaffers competing at the distance of six furlongs.

Our Lost Love will seek her third stakes win for trainer Joey Foster. Bred and owned by Tri-Star Racing LLC, the 3-year-old daughter of Half Ours has already eclipsed the $200,000 earnings mark with five wins from nine starts. The talented filly broke her maiden at Louisiana Downs last September and won her first stakes, the $93,700 Louisiana Futurity on December 29 at Fair Grounds. Two months later, she added a victory in the $70,000 Take Charge Brandi at Delta Downs. On August 8, she made easy work of her rivals, winning a five-furlong turf sprint here in :57.35 seconds. Carlos Lozada has the return call on the dark bay filly at odds of 7-2.

“She's a very special filly and we are thrilled that Louisiana Cup Day will take place this year after so many challenges,” said Foster. “I am very happy with her draw; really wanted an outside post.”

Tin Roof Farms LLC's Snowball, a 4-year-old daughter of Apriority, won her last two races at Evangeline Downs, including the $60,000 Louisiana Legends Mademoiselle Stakes on July 4. Trained by Samuel Breaux, the gray filly will break from post position three with Diego Saenz in the saddle. Bred by 4M Ranch, Snowball made one previous start at Louisiana Downs in 2019, running fourth in the Elge Rasberry, which was run at a mile on the turf.

“She's turned into a sprinter and is definitely on top of her game,” said Breaux. “We gave her a work (on September 9) in Opelousas and she is ready.”

Trainer Ron Faucheux looks for a good effort from Play Unified, a 7-year-old mare by Exchange Rate, who has earned $324,737. Erica Murray has the mount and will break from post position 13.

“She's very sound,” he said. “She can be her own worst enemy; sometimes being too fractious in the gate, but she is very talented.”

The $50,000 Louisiana Turf Cup Classic attracted thirteen runners going a mile and one-sixteenth over the Franks Turf Course. Several proven turf stakes winners are entered with a firm turf course expected for Saturday afternoon.

Sydster, a 3-year-old son of Power Broker, has won three of his six starts for owner Baronne Farms LLC. Bred by J. Adcock & Montgomery Equine Center, he broke his maiden last December and won the $75,000 Crescent City Derby on February 17. He ran second on July 4 in the Louisiana Legends Cheval Stakes at Evangeline Downs.

“He's a young horse,” admitted Johnston. “He'll be running against older horses for the first time, but I know he will like the nice sweeping Louisiana Downs turf course. Diego knows him well; he'll put him in a good spot.”

In the Navy, owned by Kendel D. Standlee, won the 2018 edition of the race and finished second last year for trainer Scott Gelner. The 6-year-old son of Midshipman will be ridden by Alexander Castillo and will be making his 33rd career start. His last appearance in the winner's circle came one year ago here at Louisiana Downs when he won the Frank L. Brothers Stakes.

“I've only been able to run him once this summer with so many races forced off the turf,” said Gelner. “He's just a great turf horse and I am proud of the fact that he has won on each of the Louisiana turf courses.”

Other contenders include Snake Racing LLC's Treys Midnite Moon, who has won nine of his 34 starts for trainer Corale Richards. Rider Devin Magnon has the call on the 5-year-old son of Neko Bay. Budro Talking has an excellent turf record for owner Jack Randall and has won five of his eight Louisiana Downs starts. Joel Dominguez will ride the 5-year-old son of Tale of Ekati for trainer Keith Austin.

The final stakes on Saturday's card is the $50,000 Louisiana Sprint which also drew an exceptional field, including two past champions, going six furlongs on the main track.

Rodney Verret's Laughingsaintssong, a 6-year-old gelding bred by J.E. Jumonville and his wife, Bunny, who own one of the top Quarter Horse farms in Louisiana. They own a Vindication mare Laughing Saint and bred her to Grade 1 winner Songandaprayer. He boasts a record of ten wins and earnings of $363,010 and exits a confident victory in the $60,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint at Evangeline Downs on July 4. Tim Thornton rode the bay gelding and will ride him in his 27th start this Saturday for conditioner Allen Landry.

“He's a war horse,” stated Landry. “He ran a great race at Evangeline Downs and has been training very well. He's fired up and ready to defend his title!”

Monte Man, the pride and joy of Ivery Sisters Racing, won the 2018 Louisiana Cup Sprint and will be in pursuit of his 16th career victory on Saturday afternoon. Claimed for $25,000 in October, 2017, bay gelded son of Custom For Carlos was sent to Faucheux in Louisiana and reeled off seven wins in a row. Five of the victories were black-type stakes and he was honored as 2018 Louisiana Bred Horse of the Year. Bred by Val C. Murrell. Monte Man has banked $610,923 and is still going strong as a 7-year-old. Jockey Gerard Melancon has the call on the 9-2 second choice.

“We love this horse,” said Faucheux. “Drawing outside suits him and he ran a really good allowance race, in hand, to prep for this. His numbers might suggest that he is not as good as he has been in the past, but he's still got a lot of fight in him.”

The field also includes Bertie's Galaxy, also trained by Faucheux and 2019 Louisiana Cup Juvenile winner Scotty Boy from the barn of Ronnie Ward.

Post time for the Louisiana Cup Sprint, which runs as the final race on the card, is 6:15 pm.

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No Mystery about Mystic Potential

Of all the oddities shoehorned into the 2020 calendar, a Jim Dandy on Derby day felt like one of the most incongruous. In a regular year, this Grade II race serves as a midsummer crossroads for sophomores with an eye on the GI Travers: a chance either to regroup, after participation in the Triple Crown series, or to test the water after missing the Classics through immaturity or injury.

At least this latter function was maintained, this time round, in the coming-of-age of ‘TDN Rising Star’ Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), a colt for whom even a four-month postponement of the GI Kentucky Derby proved to be not quite enough. His response to a pair of blinkers, however, suggests that he could yet profit from the drastic realignment of the Classics to follow the Derby winner to the GI Preakness S.

In carving his name below that of his grandsire Awesome Again–himself too late on the scene for the U.S. Classics, when winning the race in 1997–Mystic Guide made a breakthrough that had certainly appeared within his compass, despite an odds-on defeat in the GIII Peter Pan S. at the start of the Saratoga meet. The dynamic move he made into third that day, having been going nowhere mid-race, spoke of an unusual talent still in development.

Though again striking from last place, a more focused animal contested the Jim Dandy. This time Mystic Guide’s brawny physique required far less organizing–partly, no doubt, thanks to the blinkers covering up that big blaze of his; but also showing the benefit of trainer Mike Stidham’s forbearance, in never having tried to make him run before he could walk.

In terms of pedigree, there can’t be many horses in training right now whose ability is easier to explain: his first and third dams are both five-time Grade I winners, and his unraced second dam additionally produced a Classic winner in France. And his sire, of course, is one of the most venerable speed-carrying influences around.

Not that this kind of seamless quality routinely plays out in breeding. No less than when we sift a more plebeian family, to find the hidden genetic nuggets that might explain an unexpected talent, this one contains its challenges. Because where we normally ask which cold flints have been rubbed together to spark a flame, here we must ask why so obvious a formula has not worked more consistently.

In each case, we are guilty of the besetting vice of pedigree analysis: picking and choosing such evidence as best fits the outcome. A situation like this, however, should perhaps be viewed as a reminder of how the daily misadventures of the Thoroughbred can unravel even the best pedigrees, the best horsemanship, the most lavish care.

That applies to the Maktoum empire no less than to the rest of us. The fact is that Mystic Guide’s dam Music Note (A.P. Indy), who besides her Grade I wins (Coaching Club American Oaks, Mother Goose, Beldame, Ballerina, Gazelle) made the podium in consecutive editions of the GI Ladies’ Classic at the Breeders’ Cup, has otherwise failed to produce foals commensurate with their sires and trainers. Though herself as sound and consistent as she was talented, she has previously mustered only one that has sustained the basic functionality of a racehorse–and that was a son of Street Cry (Ire) claimed for $16,000 on his second start. He then managed a dozen wins in 64 subsequent starts, no fewer than 60 of them at Penn National.

Who knows what innate ability may have been stifled by ill luck in Music Note’s other foals? But her progeny otherwise include an Elusive Quality filly, unraced after making just $17,000 as Hip 2990 at the September Sale; two foals by Distorted Humor that managed a single unplaced start between them; and a son of Street Cry who did manage to win a race in a light career for Andre Fabre in France, though only after being gelded early.

Music Note was homebred for Godolphin by Gainsborough Stud from the unraced Note Musicale (GB) (Sadler’s Wells), whose dam It’s in the Air had broken the Keeneland November Sale record when acquired for $4.6 million in 1984. From the first crop of Mr. Prospector, It’s in the Air had shared the 2-year-old fillies’ championship in 1978 and won the GI Vanity H. twice, as well as the Ruffian H., Alabama S. and Delaware Oaks. She was tough, too, winning 16 of 43 starts.

Though It’s in the Air produced nine winners in all, the only one to achieve real distinction was the Seattle Slew filly she was carrying at the time of her sale, Bitooh (GB), who won the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte. But several other daughters proved fertile producers, notably the dam of Storming Home (GB) (Machiavellian), a top-level winner on either side of the Atlantic while best remembered for his chaotic disqualification in the GI Arlington Million. Another daughter, Group-placed Sous Intendu (Shadeed), has produced three stakes winners including G1 Prix Jean Prat runner-up Slip Stream (Irish River {Fr}), as well as the dam of Australian Group 1 winner Alverta (Aus) (Flying Sour {Aus}).

It was the unraced Note Musicale, however, who did most to defray her dam’s purchase. Besides Music Note herself, she also produced Musical Chimes (In Excess {Ire}). A Classic winner for Fabre, taking the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches before finishing third in the G1 Prix de Diane, Musical Chimes was exported to win the GI John C. Mabee H. for Neil Drysdale before becoming another who proved rather disappointing at stud.

The success of It’s in the Air in her second career, somewhat deferred as it was, is gratifying to those of us who believe that quality pooled beneath a pedigree can sometimes percolate unseen through a generation or two. Because her dam, A Wind Is Rising, was certainly a conduit for the right stuff.

You wouldn’t necessarily have said so, judging her as a Florida-bred, one-time winner by Francis S.–a well-bred but largely forgotten stallion, winner of the 1960 Wood Memorial for Harbor View/Burley Parke. Typical, in fact, of the material Mr. Prospector had to work with, when he started out in Ocala. (Albeit there’s an echo of It’s in the Air in some of the most valued animals around today: Francis S. was damsire of Ogygian, whose daughter Myth–herself out of a Mr. Prospector mare–gave us Scat Daddy’s sire Johannesburg.)

A Wind Is Rising certainly had a most remarkable symmetry to her pedigree: both her damsire Nasrullah and grandsire Royal Charger are sons of Nearco; and Royal Charger is out of Nasrullah’s half-sister Sun Princess. This really is as copper-bottomed as the last century gets: the dam of Nasrullah and Sun Princess was a half-sister to the mother of breed-shaping Mahmoud, the pair of them out of the champion sprinter Mumtaz Mahal, the fount of so much vital Aga Khan blood. The mating that produced It’s in the Air, moreover, introduced an extra strain of Nasrullah, his son Nashua being damsire of Mr. Prospector.

I know people get impatient with these ancient parchments, but A Wind Is Rising also surfaces as fifth dam of dual G1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}). That’s because Sheikh Mohammed doubled down on the family by buying Red Slippers (Nureyev), a great-granddaughter of A Wind Is Rising, from Robert Sangster after she broke her maiden at Ascot in 1991. Red Slippers went on to win the G2 Sun Chariot S. at three, encouraging another deal with Sangster when her half-sister by Storm Bird won both juvenile starts the following season. This was Balanchine, whose bold success against the colts in the G1 Irish Derby would set a bold template for Sheikh Mohammed’s new adventure with Godolphin. And while Balanchine has made a limited impact as a broodmare, Red Slippers produced G1 Prix de Diane winner West Wind (GB) (Machiavellian) as well as Eastern Joy (GB) (Dubai Destination), dam of four graded stakes performers besides Thunder Snow.

Another European luminary of this family is Saoirse Abu (Mr Greeley), a dual Group 1-winning juvenile for Jim Bolger in Ireland (also Classic-placed). She shares a granddam with Red Slippers.

Valuable mares owned by rich breeders get expensive coverings, and their offspring should get top-class trainers. So there are always any number of factors when the likes of Thunder Snow and now Mystic Ridge come good, three or four generations after their maternal line parted.

But I do think it comforting to find a family loaded with this kind of blood. After all, people are always eager to credit a sireline when it has tapered away to no less tenuous a degree.

And actually the sires who have seeded Mystic Guide’s branch of the family only compound the influences we just noted behind It’s in the Air. A.P. Indy doubles up the Nasrullah line through both sire and damsire. And the dam of Sadler’s Wells is by a Royal Charger-line stallion, while her granddam Thong is by a son of Nasrullah.

In a horse as well-bred as this, then, it doesn’t really matter which threads of the pedigree come through: they’re all gold. Both Mystic Guide’s parents, for instance, are out of dams who bred another elite runner: Note Musicale had Musical Chimes as well as Music Note, and Baby Zip had City Zip as well as Ghostzapper. Exactly the same is true of the respective dams of damsire and grandsire: Weekend Surprise had Summer Squall as well as A.P.Indy, and Primal Force had Macho Uno as well as Awesome Again.

Not even that brings any guarantees, as Mystic Guide’s disappointing siblings show. But if luck and judgement are now combining to permit the fulfilment of this pedigree’s potential, then there won’t be a single creaking floorboard on the stage.

And, someday, that could become hugely important. Because if Mystic Guide can earn a legitimate place at stud, he will have a chance to address the one lingering omission in the career of the phenomenal athlete who became his sire.

Justify (Scat Daddy) has announced with unmissable fanfare the emergence of Ghostzapper as a broodmare sire, unsurprising in a grandson of Deputy Minister. And, yes, Ghostzapper has Shaman Ghost standing alongside him at Adena Springs; and McCraken, his most precocious son, now making his way at Airdrie. These two have everything to play for, respectively launching their first yearlings and weanlings. At 20, however, time is running out for Ghostzapper to increase competition among his male heirs.

This is a stallion whose lifetime ratio of stakes and graded stakes winners is comfortably in step with Medaglia d’Oro and Curlin, and way ahead of many other big names. So the stakes are high, with Mystic Guide; no higher, however, than the roots are deep.

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Mixed Meet At Zia Park Reduced To 36 Race Dates, Scheduled To Begin On Oct. 5

With the impact of COVID-19 sparing few in the racing industry, including Zia Park, the New Mexico oval originally scheduled to commence its live meet on Sept. 21 will now kick off its racing season on Monday, Oct. 5. Due to significantly reduced purse funds resulting from an ongoing shutdown of Zia Park's casino operation starting on March 16, the New Mexico Racing Commission approved a reduction in the track's live racing calendar from 54 to 36 dates with the meet running through Wednesday, Dec. 23.

The track will now operate on a three day a week schedule with live racing conducted on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with a 12:00 P.M. (Mountain) post time. Currently, on-track spectators, including simulcasting, will not be permitted but will be evaluated in the future. In the event casino operations resume by Nov. 1, Zia Park will add one racing date to each of the final four weeks of its 2020 season. Overnight purses are projected to be approximately $95,000 per day with Quarter Horse races comprising the first four races of each card with the final six featuring Thoroughbreds.

Due to the consolidated racing calendar and limited purse funds, the Hobbs America Futurity and Derby Quarter Horse stakes have been cancelled for 2020 with all nomination fees for those events to be refunded. The stakes schedule will also be abbreviated and feature only state bred races – with the annual New Mexico Classics to be raced over two days – Monday, Nov. 9 for Quarter Horses and Wednesday, Nov. 11 for Thoroughbreds. Horsemen are reminded that registration certificates are due to the racing office by 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25 in order to establish a “zero date” for entries.

“This year has been a roller coaster to date and while our 2020 season will be shortened, we are glad to be able to provide the New Mexico racing industry with a needed bridge in terms of racing opportunities and stabling,” said Zia Park Vice President and General Manager Bill Belcher.

The first condition book covering the first 12 race dates (through Oct. 28) and both horsemen and racing participants are encouraged to go to www.ziaparkcasino.com/racing for safety protocols to be implemented for the upcoming race meet.

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‘More Of The Old Arklow’: Blinkers Made The Difference As Brad Cox Trainee Eyes Breeders’ Cup Turf

Donegal Racing founder Jerry Crawford considered Zulu Alpha the top distance turf horse in at least America heading into last Saturday's $1 million Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. After Donegal's Arklow upset his old rival to win the Grade 3, 1 1/2-mile stakes for the second time in the three years, Crawford slightly amended his assessment.

Wearing blinkers for the first time in 29 career races, the 6-year-old Arklow laid up close to the pace under Florent Geroux and took command through the long stretch for a 1 1/4-length victory over Red Knight. Zulu Alpha was another length back in third after coming from near-last.

“We have nothing but respect for Zulu Alpha,” Crawford said of the 2019 Kentucky Turf Cup winner to whom Arklow was second in last year's running of the track's richest race. “He was the best mile-and-a-half turf horse in the world coming into the Kentucky Turf Cup. But if you beat the best, then you're in the conversation.”

Crawford won't get any disagreement from Michael Hui, who claimed Zulu Alpha for $80,000 two years ago with the 2019 Kentucky Turf Cup in mind and now has earned more than $2 million with the gelding.

“I think he was in the conversation anyway, just because of his trainer,” Hui said of Arklow's trainer, Brad Cox.

The Mike Maker-trained Zulu Alpha started his 7-year-old season with a victory over an international field in Gulfstream Park's Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf, in which Arklow was fifth. Saturday marked the 10th time the horses had squared off, the two evenly split 5-5 for number of times finishing in front of the other.

Now the focus for both horses is squarely on the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. Arklow won a maiden race at Keeneland and was second in the 2018 Grade 2 Sycamore, won by Zulu Alpha in the gelding's first race for Hui. Zulu Alpha also won Keeneland's July 12 Elkhorn in his last start before Saturday's race.

“Zulu is good, he was bouncing around the barn cooling out, had a lot of energy,” Hui said of the defeat. “You could tell he knew he didn't win. It's onward; we'll move on. We're just going to stick with the playbook we laid out after he won the Pegasus.”

Both horses have been fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf; Arklow in 2018 at Churchill Downs and Zulu Alpha last year at Santa Anita.

Zulu Alpha will train up to this Breeders' Cup, Hui said. Arklow could run back in New York's Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, which the horse won last year to become a Grade 1 winner.

“Our next decision is: Do we go to the Joe Hirsch in three weeks and then give him five weeks to the Breeders' Cup? Do we just train him up to the Breeders' Cup?” Crawford said. “Brad is very, very pleased with the way he came out of the race. You want him to be fresh going into the Breeders' Cup, but you don't want him to be stale. To figure that out is the next challenge.”

Arklow crashed through the $2 million mark for earnings and now has made $2,446,116, the vast majority in his 24 turf starts spanning seven wins, six seconds and a third.

“I have a lot of confidence going forward with the equipment change that we're going to see more of the old Arklow,” Crawford said.

Crawford said that as much as bragging on Arklow, he wanted to praise stakes-sponsor Calumet Farm, Calumet owner Brad Kelley and Kentucky Downs. Crawford said that they make it possible “so that we can brag on horses like him.

“Kentucky Downs is one of the niftiest racetracks anywhere. What they do to make it so lucrative, the sport would be nowhere without them.”

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