Tag: breeders’ cup turf

Tarnawa Gives Weld First Cup Victory With Late-Running Turf Triumph

With jockey Christophe Soumillon taken off his second winning mount of the day after testing positive for COVID-19, substitute rider Colin Keane guided the 4-year-old Irish-bred Shamardal filly Tarnawa to a stretch-running victory over Magical, the 2-1 favorite, in Saturday's $4-million, Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

The win gave globe-trotting Irish trainer Dermot Weld his first Breeders' Cup victory from his 17th starter. The Aga Khan homebred finished a length to the good of the 5-year-old Galileo mare Magical and jockey Ryan Moore, with pacesetter Channel Maker finishing third, another half-length back and 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Lord North. They were followed across the line by Mogul, Arklow, Mehdaayih, United, Red King and Donjah.

Time for 1 1/2 miles was 2:28.02 on firm turf after fractions of :25.57, :51.06, 1:15.99, 1:40.52 and 2:04.45.

Tarnawa, the third choice in the wagering, paid $11.40 to win.

This was the third victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf for the Aga Khan, having won the inaugural running in 1984 with Lashkari and again in 2000 with Kalanisi. Tarnawa, produced from the Cape Cross mare Tarana, is the fifth generation of mares bred by Aga Khan Studs.

Tarnawa is the third filly in the last six years to win the Turf, following in the footsteps of Found in 2015 at Keeneland and Enable in the 2018 running at Churchill Downs. Distaffers Pebbles in 1985 and MIss Alleged in 1991 were earlier winners.

Tarnawa, who was winning for the eighth time in 14 career starts, was coming off a neck victory over Alpine Star in the Group 1 Prix de l'Opera at Longchamp on Oct. 4. Before that she won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille by three lengths at the Paris, France, track. She began her 2020 campaign with a victory in a Group contest in her native Ireland at Cork.

Soumillon rode Tarnawa to her two  recent French victories but tested positive for COVID-19 upon his arrival in Kentucky. He lost the mount on Order of Australia in the G1 Mile for Aidan O'Brien and that horse was ridden to a 73-1 upset victory by Pierre Charles Boudot.

 

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Tarnawa Gives Legendary Weld a Maiden BC Win in the Turf

Trainer Dermot Weld, widely regarded as the pioneer of traveling horses, has accomplished most everything there is to accomplish in this business, winning the 1990 GI Belmont S. with Go and Go (Ire) (Be My Guest) and the G1 Melbourne Cup twice with Vintage Crop (Ire) (Rousillon, 1993) and Media Puzzle in 2002, to name just a few of his considerable achievements.

The latter was a son of Theatrical (Ire), trained by Weld for Bert and Diana Firestone to a runner-up effort in the 1985 G1 Irish Derby before finishing a low-odds 11th to Pebbles (GB) (Sharpen Up {GB}) in the second running of the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf at Aqueduct. Ironically, under the care of Bill Mott, Theatrical would go on to just miss to Manila (Lyphard) the following year at Santa Anita before going one better at Hollywood Park in 1987.

From the previous 35 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup, Weld had saddled 16 horses without a winner. But in the course of 150 seconds on a sunsplashed Central Kentucky Saturday, Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) put pay to that streak with a commanding defeat of the boys at Keeneland.

Last-out winner of the G1 Prix de l’Opera over easy ground at ParisLongchamp in early October, Tarnawa dropped out to near the tail of the field as Channel Maker (English Channel)–making his fourth appearance at the Breeders’ Cup–led the way early, as expected, from 2019 runner-up United (Giant’s Causeway). The Aga Khan homebred was ridden patiently by two-time champion Irish jockey Colin Keane–replacing the COVID-19-stricken Christophe Soumillon–as they passed halfway in a pedestrian 1:15.99, and still had only one beaten as the field hit the three-eighths marker, with Channel Maker still bossing things from the front.

The Ontario-bred increased his advantage when United appeared to take an awkward step at the 2 1/2-furlong pole and, given the pace dynamics to that point, appeared a serious threat to lead them all the way. But, leaving nothing to chance and knowing how much he had underneath him, Keane allowed Tarnawa to circle some seven or eight wide off the final turn and she stormed down the center of the course to score handily. Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the Turf runner-up in an epic battle with Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the bog at Churchill two years ago, raced in the second flight of horses, but was beaten to the punch by the winner and settled for a battling second. Channel Maker held admirably for third.

“It’s thrilling to win this race, it doesn’t really get any bigger,” the trainer’s son Mark commented. “It’s been a long time since 1990 when my father first won the Belmont with Go and Go and it’s kept going ever. Instructions-wise, we left it to Colin. He’s not champion Jockey of Ireland for nothing. He took over from the late great Pat Smullen, who we miss terribly here today and I really must mention him. I also must mention Christophe, who had done so brilliantly on her in Paris as well.”

A maiden from three starts at two, Tarnawa was three times a winner at group level last season while finishing 11th in the G1 Investec Oaks. Saved for a second-half campaign this term, she resumed from an October absence to defeat Cayenne Pepper (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in the G3 Give Thanks S. at Cork Aug. 8 and made her two most recent appearances at ParisLongchamp, carrying Soumillon to a victory in the G1 Prix Vermeille Sept. 1 and to a neck defeat of the talented Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) and Filly & Mare Turf heroine Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) when last seen in the Opera.

Tarnawa is the fourth runner to carry the Aga Khan green-and-red to victory in the Turf, joining inaugural winner Lashkari (GB) (Mill Reef); 1999 hero Daylami (Ire) (Doyoun {Ire}, campaigned in partnership with Godolphin; and 2000 victor Kalanisi (Ire) (Doyoun {Ire}). All were homebred winners.

Pedigree Notes:
Tarnawa–somewhat surprisingly–becomes the first Breeders’ Cup winner for her globally successful stallion (by Giant’s Causeway), who was euthanized at Darley’s Kildangan Stud this past April. Tarnawa’s dual stakes-winning dam was out of Irish highweight Tarakala, who won the Listed Galtres S. at York and was placed in the G3 Noblesse S. at Naas, each over 12 furlongs. One of 26 top-level, 77 graded/group and 150 overall black-type scorers for Shamardal, Tarnawa has an unraced 2-year-old half-brother named Tazaral (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and a weanling half-sister by Siyouni (Fr).

Saturday, Keeneland
LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP TURF-GI, $3,680,000, Keeneland, 11-7, 3yo/up, 1 1/2mT, 2:28.02, fm.
1–TARNAWA (IRE), 123, f, 4, by Shamardal
1st Dam: Tarana (Ire) (SW & GSP-Ire, $141,525), by Cape Cross (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Tarakala (Ire), by Dr Fong
                3rd Dam: Tarakana, by Shahrastani
O-HH Aga Khan; B-His Highness the Aga Khan’s Studs S.C. (IRE);
T-Dermot K. Weld; J-Colin Keane. $2,080,000. Lifetime Record:
MG1SW-Fr & MGSW-Ire, 14-8-2-2, $2,868,503. Werk Nick
Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Magical (Ire), 123, m, 5, Galileo (Ire) (Ire)–Halfway To Heaven
(Ire), by Pivotal (GB). O-Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier &
Derrick Smith; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (IRE); T-Aidan
O’Brien. $680,000.
3–Channel Maker, 126, g, 6, English Channel–In Return, by
Horse Chestnut (SAf). ($57,000 RNA Ylg ’15 KEESEP).
O-Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable & Reeves
Thoroughbred Racing; B-Tall Oaks Farm (ON); T-William I.
Mott. $360,000.
Margins: 1, NO, 1 3/4. Odds: 4.70, 2.10, 9.10.
Also Ran: Lord North (Ire), Mogul (GB), Arklow, Mehdaayih (GB), United, Red King, Donjah (Ger). Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Teaching An Old Horse New Tricks: Blinkers Have Arklow In Career Form For Breeders’ Cup Turf

Arklow's connections say he's a different horse since blinkers were added for the $1 million Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12, which proved his second triumph in Kentucky Downs' signature race in three years.

Saying he's different is saying something, given that Donegal Racing's 6-year-old Arklow had earned almost $2 million in 28 races without blinkers, including victory in New York's Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic last year.

The Brad Cox-trained Arklow was much more engaged for jockey Florent Geroux early on during their 1 1/4-length Kentucky Turf Cup score over Red Knight, who won Keeneland's Grade 2 Sycamore in his next start. Meanwhile, Arklow has trained up to his third attempt at Saturday's $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, having finished fourth in 2018 at Churchill Downs and a deceptively good eighth — losing by a total of 2 3/4 lengths — last year at Santa Anita.

Arklow is the 5-1 co-third choice with New York-based Channel Maker in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland, whose 1 1/2-mile distance is the same as the Kentucky Turf Cup. The 5-2 favorite in the field of 10 is 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Magical and the 3-year-old Mogul, with both trained by Irish kingpin Aidan O'Brien.

“A lot of people have forgotten, or never even knew, that he had the best speed figures of anyone in last year's Breeders' Cup, even though he finished eighth,” Donegal president Jerry Crawford said Thursday, referencing the Ragozin handicapping “sheets” that chart form cycles and the comparative speed of horses while taking into account trouble encountered in a race. “That's how wide he was the whole time. He was in great form them, but he's in dramatically better form now.

“All you have to do is talk to Brad Cox,” said Crawford, whose partners with Donegal in Arklow are Joseph Bulger and Peter Coneway. “I, frankly, have never heard Brad so positive and confident in a horse as he is in Arklow on Saturday. Which is not to say that we don't have enormous respect for the Europeans. They're always very, very good – and we've got to beat Channel Maker, too. It's truly a world championship race. We think Arklow belongs and has an excellent chance. In Brad's words, as good a chance as anybody.”

Cox has said he was tempted before to add blinkers but that it was hard to make a change on a horse who was so productive. The opportunity came after Arklow finished fourth in Monmouth Park's Grade 1 United Nations, an audible called after he came in a disappointing sixth in Keeneland's Grade 2 Sycamore. The thought was that Arklow was leaving himself too much to do. Not only did the blinkers encourage the horse to position himself closer to the pace — as he had been in winning the Joe Hirsch last year — but his timed workouts in the morning have been much stronger.

Crawford quips that “a lot of owners would be smarter than to wait until a horse was 6 to try blinkers. That's on me. Brad put them on for a breeze after our ill-fated six-days rest before running at Monmouth Park. He called and said, 'We've got a whole new horse.'

“We saw his ability to get to the front (group) of horses in the Kentucky Turf Cup and was sitting on go the whole way, really, and not only held on but pulled away. I don't know how you could run a more impressive race than that.”

Said Cox: “That's the thing you do with blinkers: trying to get a horse more involved. He ran a great race at Kentucky Downs, really just kicked away from them late. Really pleased with his effort.

“He's doing better now than ever, so (we have) more confidence this year than the past,” he said of the Breeders' Cup Turf. “The Europeans are always tough in that division. We'll have to step up and run a race of a lifetime in order to win it. He's training like he's going to give us a race of a lifetime, so we're optimistic we'll be in the mix.”

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Soumillon Positive For COVID-19; Colin Keane Picks Up Breeders’ Cup Turf Mount On Tarnawa

Leading Irish jockey Colin Keane will pick up the mount on Tarnawa in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland, reports At the Races  on Twitter, because regular rider Christophe Soumillon has tested positive for COVID-19.

The Dermot Weld-trained 4-year-old daughter of Shamardal is listed at 6-1 on the morning line off an undefeated season in 2020; she won the G1 Prix Vermeille and the G1 Prix de l'Opera in France this year.

“It complicates things a little,” Weld said. “She takes a bit of knowing and he'd won two Group Ones on her. But that's the way it is.”

Soumillon was also listed to ride Order of Australia in the Mile for trainer Aidan O'Brien. No replacement has yet been named.

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