Both Jasper Prince, owned by Kazuo Kato, and Pingxiang, owned by Naoya Fuji, are trained by Hideyuki Mori. The Dirt Mile was the first preference of both at pre-entry.

Four horses are not traveling to Del Mar for next weekend's World Championships:

La Joconde (IRE), owned by Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Westerberg is not traveling for the $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). That moves the first also-eligible, Juddmonte's Acanella (GB) into the race for trainer Ger Lyons.

Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R D I's Imperador (ARG) is not coming for the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). That moves the first also-eligible, Masaaki Matsushima, Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor's Japan (GB) into the race for trainer Aidan O'Brien.

Peter Stokes and Scott Krase's Crazyland (GB) is not shipping for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

Kazuo Kate's Jasper Krone is not shipping from Japan. He was pre-entered in both the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), his first preference, and the $2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

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Opening weekend at Keeneland delivered results that may have Lobo saddling three Breeders' Cup contenders this year, as Brazilian-bred In Love powered to an authoritative lead in the stretch of the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile while accomplished stablemate Ivar, another Brazilian-bred, finished fourth. The victory earned In Love a spot in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 6, and Lobo said Ivar (who won Keeneland's Shadwell Turf Mile last year) may go to the Mile as well if he can get a spot. Ivar finished fourth in last year's Breeders' Cup Mile. In September, Argentine-bred Imperador held off a late bid from Arklow to win the G2 Calumet Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs, earning a spot in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

All three runners are co-owned by Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R.D.I. LLC.

“It's my first year to try to take three horses,” Lobo said. “I'm very happy. You need to enjoy the moment. It's not easy to have three good horses in the barn at the same time.”

Although it will be Lobo's first time taking multiple shooters to a Breeders' Cup, it won't be his first appearance there.

Lobo is a fourth-generation horseman who grew up going to the racetrack with his father in his native Brazil. He has a brother who is an auctioneer and an uncle who is a veterinarian. Training horses was a foregone conclusion for him, and he's happy about that. Lobo began as an assistant to his father in 1987 and hung out his own shingle eight years later, quickly becoming the youngest trainer in Brazil to win a race at the age of 26.

But for Lobo, the dream was always to train in the United States.

Trainer Paulo Lobo

“Since I started, way back in '87, I always wanted to try here in America,” he said. “Following the good horses, the good trainers, the good jockeys. I don't know, something inside me, I always wanted to try it here.”

He came to this country at the start of 2001. At the time, he was the American outpost for a Brazilian owner who had bought five yearlings out of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in fall 2000. One of the five was a filly Lobo said he knew was special from the start.

“She was an exceptional filly,” he said. “Since the beginning, since when I started to breeze them, she was very precocious. She won first time out at Del Mar at a mile, very impressively. The first half-mile, when she worked for me, I was very pleased with her.”

That bay filly turned out to be Farda Amiga, would win the 2002 G1 Kentucky Oaks and G1 Alabama before finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff that year. She won the 2002 Eclipse Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, giving Lobo a red-hot start to his American career. The next year, he had graded stakes winner Quero Quero in his barn, who brought him a win in the G2 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap and seconds in the G1 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap, G3 Wilshire, and G3 Las Cienegas. Another year later, he brought Pico Central (BRZ) over from South America and developed one of the most dominant sprinters of the 2004 season, recording G1 victories in the Carter and Metropolitan Handicaps and Vosburgh Stakes in New York and G2 San Carlos Handicap in California.

A trainer simply couldn't hope for better advertising at the start of their career than three horses competing in the graded stakes levels so convincingly.

“Even in my best dream, no [I couldn't have imagined that start]” he said.

Lobo trained in California and in New York before transitioning to his current base in Kentucky. Since many of his clients still have ties to South America's racing and breeding industry, he's accustomed to taking horses like In Love who start their careers south of the equator and are asked to transition to America. He said there's no real pattern to finding out which South American imports will succeed in the States and which won't, and there isn't a particular track or circuit that seems inherently better at helping them make the transition.

Most of the time, Lobo said the trainer or manager in Brazil will tell him which horses on a plane load they think is the most talented on their home turf, but Lobo has found it could easily reverse once they step onto American soil. The lesser of two competitors could thrive while the other may struggle with the tighter turns and fizzle. It takes Lobo four or five months to really know what he's got.

“The transition is not easy,” he said. “Some really good horses, sometimes they don't ever show up. It happens.”

In Love, Lobo said, was one who came to him with a respectable, if not dazzling resume at home, and then took some time to settle in. He was from the same crop as Imperador and Ivar, and they were all turned out together when they were young. The trainer who sent Lobo the horse had the highest hopes for In Love, but it took him some time to validate that faith.

Although he won an allowance at Keeneland impressively last year, In Love ran relatively disappointing races in the next three starts. Lobo took him to Arlington Park in search of friendlier competition and noticed the horse dawdled on the lead, focusing on his competitors to his inside instead of the wire. Lobo added blinkers and saw a big improvement with a victory in the TVG Stakes at Kentucky Downs one month prior to the Turf Mile.

True to the horse's name, Lobo said In Love is a kind soul around the barn, making his job easier. He feels good about the horse's chances in the Breeders' Cup Mile. If anything, he thinks In Love could be just as happy running farther – someday.

“He's bred for more distance, this horse,” he said of the son of the Sunday Silence stallion Agnes Gold. “No doubt about it – he can go a mile and a quarter, even a mile and a half. But he's working well this way, let's keep it this way.”

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Saturday, Kentucky Downs
CALUMET TURF CUP S.-GII, $715,105, Kentucky Downs, 9-11, 3yo/up, 1 1/2mT, 2:25.70 (NCR),, fm.
1–IMPERADOR (ARG), 122, h, 5, by Treasure Beach (GB)
                1st Dam: Duchess Royale (Ire), by Danehill
                2nd Dam: Fantasy Royale, by Pleasant Colony
                3rd Dam: Nijinsky's Lover, by Nijinsky II
O-Bonne Chance Farm, LLC & Stud R D I, LLC.; B-Haras Rio Dois
Irmaos S.R.L. (ARG); T-Paulo H. Lobo; J-Joseph Talamo.
$317,130. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Arg, 14-4-4-0, $538,268.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Arklow, 124, h, 7, Arch–Unbridled Empire, by Empire Maker.
($160,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger &
Estate of Peter Coneway; B-John R. Penn & Frank Penn (KY);
T-Brad H. Cox. $186,000.
3–Glynn County, 124, c, 4, Kitten's Joy–Quad Tens, by Rock
Hard Ten. ($45,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $80,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR).
O-Three Diamonds Farm; B-Kenneth L. & Sarah K. Ramsey (KY);
T-Michael J. Maker. $93,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Margins: NK, 1 1/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 8.60, 2.30, 6.20.
Also Ran: Ajourneytofreedom, Epic Bromance, Channel Cat, Breakpoint (Chi), Big Dreaming, Dynadrive, Artemus Eagle, Tide of the Sea, Crossfirehurricane. Scratched: Bluegrass Parkway, Fantasioso (Arg), Time for Trouble, Zulu Alpha.

“It felt great,” Talamo said. “Hats off to the horse and to the trainer, Paulo Lobo, for the training job he did. I tried to be a good passenger the whole way around there. He settled in good, and turning for home, he had a good turn of foot.”

Geroux said of his trouble, “The horse ran great. It was just a tough beat, bad luck. I had a great trip. I was saving ground, he was traveling great. I thought I had the horses measured in front of me. I thought I had the speed turning for home, and those horses came back at us quick. I had to take a hold and come around, and it was too late. The winner went all the way around. If I split horses and get through, they'll tell me it's a great ride. I didn't. I got squeezed, and it's a bad ride. He's a horse that always tries hard.”

A dual Group 1 winner in his native country under the tutelage of Diego Pena, Imperador was second in a Churchill optional claimer last September before checking in ninth in the GII Seabiscuit H. at Del Mar Nov. 28. He was fourth upon seasonal debut in a Keeneland allowance Apr. 15, and could only manage sixth behind Arklow after going for an early run in the May 15 GIII Louisville S. Imperador was last seen belying 23-1 odds in the GI United Nations S. at Monmouth July 17.

“I was expecting a huge effort,” Lobo said. “He ran good at Churchill, the first time running a mile and a half here in America. He ran very good in New Jersey and he was doing very good for this race… I was talking with Jerry Bailey this morning and he saw everything that I saw and he liked the horse. He saw the race at Churchill and the race in New Jersey. And I told him, 'Man, he has been training very well and I am very confident today.'”

Imperador is already nominated for the Breeders' Cup and that'll be the target.

“In the Breeders' Cup we are going to be in deeper waters, but this horse I think is peaking at the right time,” Lobo said. “I think he is going to enjoy Del Mar. South American horses also like Del mar. Let's see. Let's see. Let's hope for the best.”

Lobo and Bonne Chance Farm also took a division of the TVG S. Wednesday with In Love (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}).

“We have a very good team behind us here with Paulo and all the crew at his barn who did an excellent job to bring those two horses in top condition. And also, all the people in South America deserve some credit as well to develop those horses into being champions,” said Bonne Chance CEO Alberto Figueiredo. “They're proving it here. Imagine, we're bringing three horses and three are stakes winners: [2020 GI Shadwell Turf Mile winner] Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}), Imperador and In Love. That's a huge accomplishment for a South American stable with just a couple handful of mares.”

Pedigree Notes:

The well-traveled Treasure Beach competed in seven countries, with his highest-level victories coming in the 2011 Irish Derby and Secretariat S. The son of the late Galileo (Ire) now splits his time between Florida's Pleasant Acres Stallions and Argentina, where the majority of his success has come. He has six Group 1 winners in the Southern Hemisphere, and 11 black-type winners and eight graded/group winners overall (two in the Northern Hemisphere). The winner's dam was purchased for $20,000 at the 2010 Keeneland November sale while in foal to Arch.

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In his sixth start in North America, Imperador with jockey Joseph Talamo broke cleanly from the rail post and settled in eighth as Epic Bromance and Big Dreaming traded the lead throughout the first mile of the Turf Cup. On the race's final bend, Channel Cat made a move for the lead, with Talamo taking Imperador to the outside of horses to find running room for their closing run.

Into the long stretch at the Franklin, Ky., track, Imperador challenged Channel Cat and Epic Bromance, ranging up on the outside as they shortened stride and fell back. As Imperador dueled with Glynn Country for the lead, favored Arklow was trapped behind a wall of horses, finally finding running room on the outside to make his bid. Imperador got clear of the field, holding off a surging Arklow to win by a neck. Glynn County was third. Ajourneytofreedom, Epic Bromance, Channel Cat, Breakpoint, Big Dreaming, Dynadrive, Artemus Eagle, Tide of the Sea, and Crossfirehurricane rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the 1 1/2 mile was 2:25.70, a new track record. Find this race's chart here.

Imperador paid $19.20, $8.00, and $5.00. Arklow paid $4.00 and $2.80. Glynn County paid $3.80.

The Grade 1 Calumet Turf Cup is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. Winners of Challenge Series events receive a fees-paid, guaranteed spot in the corresponding race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Bred in Argentina by Haras Rio Dois Irmaos S. R. L., Imperador is out of Treasure Beach (GB) out of the Danehill mare Duchess Royale. The 5-year-old horse is owned by Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R.D.I. LLC and trained by Paulo Lobo. With his win in the Calumet Turf Cup, Imperador's 2021 record is one win in four starts, with his lifetime record improving to four wins in 14 starts.

The post Imperador Gets First American Win In Calumet Turf Cup, Earns BC Turf Berth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Saturday's Louisville Stakes, run at 1 ½ miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course, is the featured event on the 11-race program. First post is 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Louisville will go as the finale at 5:58 p.m. A simulcast of the $1 million Preakness Stakes (G1) – the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown – follows at 6:47 p.m.

Trained by 2020 Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Brad Cox, Arklow has been off since winning November's $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) at Del Mar. The now 7-year-old son of Arch has recorded eight lifetime victories through 31 starts with earnings topping a stout $2.66 million. Arklow has one victory over the Matt Winn Turf Course four years ago in the American Turf (G2).

Jockey Florent Geroux, who has been aboard Arklow for 16 previous starts, has the call from post No. 10.

With a victory Saturday, trainer Kenny McPeek would tie Bill Mott for the most victories in the Louisville Stakes with six. McPeek entered Lucky Seven Stable's stakes winner Crafty Daddy along with Walking L Thoroughbreds' three-time winner Fighting Seabee.

Mott hopes to extend his lead with Trinity Farm's $150,000 Elkhorn (G3) winner Red Knight. The 7-year-old gelded son of Pure Prize finished second to Arklow in last year's $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup (G3) at Kentucky Downs.

The complete field for the Louisville from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Artemus Eagle (Gabriel Saez, Waylon Cundiff); Imperador (ARG) (Joe Talamo, Paolo Lobo); Spooky Channel (Francisco Arrieta, Jason Barkley); Strong Tide (Marcelino Pedroza, Mike Lauer); Fantasioso (ARG) (Julien Leparoux, Ignacio Correas IV); Jais's Solitude (Declan Cannon, Eddie Kenneally); Red Knight (James Graham, Mott); Fighting Seabee (Chris Landeros, McPeek); Monarchs Glen (GB) (Adam Beschizza, Mike Maker); Arklow (Geroux, Cox); Ajourneytofreedom (Tyler Gaffalione, Maker); Bakers Bay (Corey Lanerie, Shug McGaughey); Crafty Daddy (Brian Hernandez, McPeek); and Admiralty Pier (Drayden Van Dyke, Barbara Minshall).

Wagering is available online at www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

Racing beneath the Twin Spires returns Thursday with a special late post of 5 p.m. for Twilight Thursday presented by Blue Moon. Fans can enjoy the eight-race card while sipping on $1 select domestic beer and $1 Blue Moon draft. The evening also features live music, food trucks and more. General admission, which includes a program, is $5 and can be purchased online at www.churchilldowns.com/tickets.

Live racing will continue Friday-Sunday with first posts of 12:45 p.m. For more information about the Spring Meet, visit https://www.churchilldowns.com/calendar/featured-events/.

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