Fans at Ellis Park were treated to a thriller on Saturday in the $200,000 KY Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby when favored Wadsworth overcame a troubled trip and held of late charges of Highway Robber and Anglophile to win his second consecutive stakes at 'the Pea Patch' in Henderson, Kentucky.
The race was one of three stakes on Saturday's card, the first day of the track's Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend.
A Godolphin homebred, Wadsworth didn't have the easiest journey, and jockey Florent Geroux was forced to overcome traffic into the first turn of the 1 1/8-mile turf contest.
The fleet-footed Worthington led the field of 11 3-year-olds into the first turn while being pressured by Act a Fool and Tall Boy. Geroux had Wadsworth positioned ninth in the first turn after checking several times between horses. Up the backside, Worthington was able to shake clear of his pace-pressing rivals and continued to lead the field through a swift half-mile in :46.19.
While Worthington was winging it on the lead, Geroux attempted to improve Wadsworth's position but he was in a tight spot in the four-path. At the half-mile pole, Wadsworth found an opening while pacesetter Worthington began to retreat back to the field. Around the far turn, Geroux tipped Wadsworth in the six path while Highway Robber was splitting horses and Anglophile found a seam at the rail. In the final strides, Wadsworth prevailed in a blanket three-horse photo by a head.
“This trip wasn't as smooth as my victory on Bay Storm (one race earlier in the $200,000 KY Downs Preview Mint Ladies Turf Sprint),” Geroux said. “Wadsworth overcame a lot in this race and showed a lot of tenacity down the lane. In the first turn I got shut off. I kept going wide around the turn and was checked again when I tried to improve my position going onto the backside. I hit the front a little early in the stretch and he was kind of looking around a little bit. This was his first time going this far. It's tough to get a gage on a horse in this type of situation if they can handle the distance because he had such a tough trip. I'm proud of him and the credit goes to trainer Brad Cox's team.”
“He's a horse we always had high hopes for,” assistant trainer Trace Messina said of the Quality Road gelding out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Dickinson. “We brought him to Saratoga with us last summer and it took us a bit to figure out what he really wanted to do. We thought grass may be in his future since he's out of the mare Dickinson. We found out what he likes to do and he's enjoying it.”
Wadsworth ($3.76) notched his fourth career victory in the KY Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby. He completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.30 over the firm going.
With his victory he earned an automatic berth to the $1-million Dueling Grounds Derby (G3) at Kentucky Downs.
In the KY Downs Preview Mint Ladies Turf Sprint, Bridlewood Farm's Bay Storm squeezed through an opening at the rail and was able to hold off the late charge of Quaria Comet to win by a neck.
Geroux rode Bay Storm, a 5-year-old Kantharos mare out of the Midshipman mare Stormy Regatta, for trainer Jonathan Thomas. The duo completed 5 ½ furlongs over the firm turf in 1:01.24.
Bay Storm ($5.12) improved to 5-6-3 from 16 career starts and boosted her lifetime bankroll to $708,755. She was bred in Kentucky by Candy Meadows LLC and sold for $400,000 out of the Woodford Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2020 OBS Spring sale of 2-year-old in training.
Storyteller Racing's Hozier prevailed in a long stretch drive to win the $200,00 KY Downs Preview Mint Millions Turf Mile.
Hozier is trained by Rodolphe Brisset and was ridden to victory by Alex Achard. The duo completed one-mile in 1:34.28 on firm turf.
The pace was slow to develop and Minnesota Ready inherited the lead into the first turn. Hozier was rating in fifth and continued to stay in position as the field completed a half mile in a reasonable :48.29. The pace began to quicken around the far turn as Big Dreaming made the lead after Minnesota Ready retreated. Hozier remained at the rail until the field reached the top of the stretch and Achard tipped the gelding four-wide. It wasn't until the final stages of the race that Hozier was able to find the front end while holding Fuerteventura at bay by a half-length.
Hozier ($10.76) boosted his overall record to 5-4-2 from 23 starts and improved his lifetime earnings to $739,365.
A 5-year-old gelded son of Pioneerof the Nile out of the Henny Hughes mare Merry Meadow, Hozier was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm.
Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend continues Sunday with four stakes, including the Pucker Up (G3).
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Trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who relocated to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to take up a position as private trainer to Prince Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud, was represented by his first winner when Honky Tonk Man (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) won a 1400-meter allowance Saturday afternoon at King Khalid Racecourse in Ta'if, about 500 miles southwest of Riyadh.
Ridden by former U.S.-based jockey Wigberto Ramos from gate 16, Honky Tonk Man–who was second to fellow American-bred Chiefdom (The Factor) when becoming Jerkens's first runner in a 0-90 handicap July 15–raced with the leading group and edged forward to contend for the lead with about a half-mile to race. Matching strides into the stretch in a rematch with Chiefdom Saturday, Honky Tonk Man began to get the upper hand inside the final furlong and went on to score by 1 1/2 lengths (see below, SC 16).
“It is, I must admit, it's a little bit of breathing room for a little while,” a relieved Jerkens told the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia's Shamela Hanley. “He ran a winning race last time. The others we've run since then haven't fared as well, they just didn't get enough out of their works in the morning to be fit enough. But he's a light, little horse, kind of a natural athlete and he was getting over the track better than the majority of my horses, so I was fairly confident in him.”
A winner of two of nine starts in England for trainers Harry and Roger Charlton, Honky Tonk Man was purchased by Najd Stud for 150,000gns ($177,654) at last year's Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, an increasingly important source of bloodstock for jurisdictions in the Middle East. He was unplaced in a pair of starts at King Abdulaziz Racecourse last January and February before being transferred to Jerkens.
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Cogburn remained unbeaten since moving to turf, posting his third consecutive victory on the grass by overtaking Nobals in the stretch to capture Saturday's $300,000 Troy (G1) for older horses to kick off the first of five stakes on a stacked Whitney Day Card at Saratoga Race Course.
Since Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen moved Cogburn from the main track to the turf, the 4-year-old Not This Time colt rallied for a pair of five-furlong victories, winning the Chamberlain Bridge in May and the Grand Prairie Turf Sprint in June at Lone Star Park. Stretched out slightly to the Troy distance of 5 1/2 furlongs, Cogburn improved to 3-for-3 on the lawn with his three-quarter-length victory.
Before earning another winner's circle trip, Nobals led the seven-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in :21.92 and the half in :45.19 into the stretch over a yielding Mellon turf course.
Cogburn, under jockey Ricardo Santana Jr., previously won over firm ground but handled the softer going with aplomb. Straightened for home, Cogburn first overtook Remuda from the outside and set his sights on Nobals, collaring him inside the final sixteenth and hitting the wire in 1:03.70.
Nobals, ridden by E.T. Baird, bested Thin White Duke by 1 1/2 lengths for second for trainer Larry Rivelli. Caravel, the 6-year-old mare who entered off a five-race win streak and went off as 1-2 favorite, finished fourth. Remuda, Mister Mmmmm and Ikigai completed the order of finish. Grooms All Bizness was scratched.
“The last two races, he'd been breaking really bad. I was really surprised when he got out on two feet, I stayed last by maybe 10 to 15 lengths, and man he closed hard,” Santana said. “I was really happy where I was today, that was all the plan. It is what I went over with Steve this morning and that horse looked like he loved the turf.
“It was a perfect trip,” he continued. “The horse has been improving and improving, more and more. He ran hard today. He really liked the turf and I'm really happy with him.”
Off at 7-1, Cogburn returned $17 on a $2 win wager. Campaigned by Clark O. Brewster and William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, he improved his career earnings to $591,710 and is now 6-2-0 in 11 career starts.
“I think obviously he has excelled on the turf, being undefeated, and gave me a great feel today,” Asmussen said. “We put him on the turf honestly because he wasn't performing as well as he trained on the dirt. He would run solid, but not as special as he seemed training.”
After handling the softer track, Asmussen said the potential for a Breeders' Cup target in November at Santa Anita could be in play, along with a potential start first in the $1-million Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G2) on September 9.
“I thought Ricardo gave him just a perfect trip today,” Asmussen said. “Thankfully, he handled the soft turf. The concern was that he had run twice on very firm turf and all the rain we got yesterday — not being sure how he'd like it — but obviously it suits him well. I feel great to beat the field that we did today and now we can think big. We hopefully have a Breeders' Cup horse.”
Nobals, who won the Turf Sprint (G2) in May at Churchill Downs and William Garrett Handicap in July in his previous start, finished on the board for the fourth time in his last five starts.
“He broke great and he really ran his race,” Baird said. “He handled it great. I know it's a little soft, but he never bobbled once and didn't have a hard time handling the track at all.”
Caravel's trainer, Brad Cox, said the give in the ground was not to his charge's liking.
“It was [the yielding turf]. She's never traveled like that in her life,” Cox said. “We'll regroup. I don't know where we'll go from here.”
The post Cogburn Keeps Turf Record Perfect With Troy Victory, Halts Caravel’s Win Streak appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
