Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Forster Readies His ‘Favorite Player’ For Dirt Mile

By his own admission, Grant Forster is not a “big fish in a small pond” kind of guy. He was extremely successful at Emerald Downs in the early years of his training career but made the decision to move to Kentucky in 2007 to “take on the sport's biggest players.”

Forster's stable was reduced by the move, but 13 years later the trainer is preparing to saddle his first Breeders' Cup starter. Gulliver Racing, Craig Drager, and Dan Legan's Pirate's Punch, a 4-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby, will be one of the top choices in the Grade 1 Dirt Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“It's obviously super exciting,” said Forster, 46. “Everybody in horse racing, whether you're a jockey, a trainer, a groom, wants to be associated with a horse in the Triple Crown or the Breeders' Cup. Now, not only do we have a horse in the Breeders' Cup, but we have a live chance to win.

“Winning a race like that would really be big for my career. We're a smaller stable but we've been fortunate; it always seems like we've had one stakes horse in the barn. We've won some nice graded stakes, and we've placed in nice graded stakes, but we've never won a Grade 1, never competed in the Breeders' Cup, so to do that, that's why we're all here.”

Pirate's Punch won the G3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park last Saturday by two lengths, returning to the winner's circle after a disqualification from victory in the G3 Phillip H. Iselin at the New Jersey oval on Aug. 22.

“When he crossed the wire first in the Iselin at Monmouth, the Breeders' Cup really entered the conversation,” Forster said. “The horse he beat, Warrior's Charge, was one of the top contenders in the division. Even though we were disqualified, we felt we had the best horse on that day; we looked him in the eye and beat him.”

Warrior's Charge returned to finish a disappointing eighth in the G3 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs on Sept. 26 after setting a wicked early pace, but Pirate's Punch showed he has not regressed off the Iselin effort. His Salvator Mile victory was accomplished in easy style, with jockey Jorge Vargas, Jr. allowing the gelding to ease up in the final sixteenth of a mile.

“It was a nice redemption,” said Forster. “He has consistently improved, and his confidence is at an all-time high. He's just a lovely horse, loves to train, loves attention, and loves people. As he's accomplished more he's gotten more proud of himself, and he thinks he's king of the world now!”

It's a good feeling heading into the Breeders' Cup, even with all the uncertainty of 2020.

Forster, a native of British Columbia, Canada, has long hoped for a shot at the top of the sport. A son of two Canadian horsemen, he attended the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program and began his career as a media relations specialist at Emerald Downs in 1997.

Three years later, Forster found himself really missing the day-to-day contact with horses and returned to working for his British Columbia Racing Hall of Fame father, Dave Forster, as a groom at Emerald. He worked his way up to assistant trainer and took out his own license in 2003.

Forster earned several leading trainer titles at Emerald and saddled the winners of three consecutive editions of the Washington Oaks, as well as the winner of the 2005 edition of the G3 Longacres Mile. He was also successful during winter meetings at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.

“I had some wonderful years there and trained for wonderful people,” Forster said. “I felt like I'd accomplished everything I could out there, though, so to me it was more exciting to be based in Kentucky.”

So far, the top horse in Forster's stable has been the 2008 mare Brushed By A Star, by Eddington. She was a $10,000 yearling at the Keeneland September sale, but earned $441,991 on the track with wins in the G2 Chilukki and G2 Molly Pitcher Stakes under Forster's care.

Still, Pirate's Punch has worked his way into Forster's heart in a way none of his previous trainees has been able to touch.

Pirate's Punch, Jorge Vargas Jr. aboard

“If I was a coach in high school basketball, he'd be my favorite player,” Forster admitted. “He's run well for us every time, just his consistency on the track is remarkable. He's also an unbelievably kind horse. He loves to work with people, he loves being around people. He just wants them to pet him, but not in any kind of needy way; he just is a very social horse.

“He lives in the first stall on the corner, nearest the office. He's an absolute savage for carrots! We go through many many bags of baby carrots each week, and we're more than happy to provide those for him.”

Pirate's Punch was first in training with Jeff Mullins in California, but moved to Forster's care after breaking his maiden for a $30,000 tag at Ellis Park in July of 2019. The gelding immediately stepped up to win an allowance race at Indiana Grand, then finished third in the G3 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

Now, Pirate's Punch has a record of five wins, three seconds, and four thirds from 17 starts for earnings of $332,751.

“We got him at just the right time,” Forster said. “He'd been gelded, broken his maiden and gained some confidence. He's just continued to improve ever since.

“When we got him, what he had accomplished and what he turned into, hopefully it's a strong commercial for our program.”

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This Time It Counts: Pirate’s Punch Proves Best In Salvator Mile

Pirate's Punch left no doubt about the outcome this time.

Disqualified from first for interference in the stretch in the Grade 3 Philip Iselin Stakes four weeks ago, Pirate's Punch drew away coming out of the final turn to win the $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile by two lengths on Sunday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Now it's onto the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday, Nov. 7, for the half-brother to 2017 Haskell Invitational winner Girvin, according to trainer Grant Forster.

“The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is definitely our plan based on these last two races,” said the Kentucky-based Forster. “For us here in Kentucky it's a home game this year. He does have one race at Keeneland when he ran very well as he was just starting to improve last fall. I know the owners and I are on board.

“We were treating this as our `win and you're in.' He won it, so I guess we have to put our money where our mouth is and give a horse the chance to show what he can do on the national stage.”

The speedy 4-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby, who generally races on the lead, was kept off the early quick pace set by Prendimi and Wind of Change, with the duo taking the eight-horse field to an opening quarter of :22.69 and a first half in :45.80.

Entering the final turn, jockey Jorge Vargas, Jr. gave Pirate's Punch his cue, with the gelding sweeping three wide and immediately getting a jump on the field as he made the lead. Final time for the mile was 1:37.19.

Top Line Growth, the Laurel Park record holder for a mile, was able to get second, a head in front of Bal Harbour.

“I'm pleased they gave me another chance to ride this horse after the Iselin,” said Vargas. “I didn't feel what happened that day was all that bad but I still felt bad about it and apologized to the owners afterward. They told me I did everything right and rode a good race.

“Obviously today we wanted to be on the lead because that's the best way he has run before, but they went quick early on. I didn't panic. I just tried to keep him clean. I knew I was on the best horse in the race. After the three-eighths he just took off. I wasn't going to challenge that fast early speed. I know this is a good horse and he will get in gear.”

Now with a 5-3-4 line from 17 career starts, Pirate's Punch earned his first graded stakes win. He paid $6.60 to win as the favorite in the field.

“He really validated that last race,” said Forster. “I said before the race I was concerned about bringing him back this quickly with the travelling (from Kentucky), but every day he has been a 10 out there on the track for us and he gave us every reason to come back.

“The jockeys who have ridden him have always said he will rate. He has run some very good races from just off the pace, but of course this is the first time to get a win doing it that way with such a fast early pace being set. Credit to Jorge Vargas, Jr. He rode a brilliant race. He didn't panic being on the favorite. He knew what he had underneath him. The horse runs the turns very well and Vargas asked him around the turn and he responded as we know he can.”

Owned by Gulliver Racing LLC, Craig Drager and Dan Legan, Pirate's Punch boosted his career earnings to $332,751 with the $90,000 winner's share of the purse.

He also moved Vargas a step closer to what would be a career riding highlight.

“The Breeders' Cup is one of my dreams so I am hoping this horse goes now,” said Vargas. “To be able to ride him in the Breeders' Cup would be a dream come true.”

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Forster Looking At Salvator Mile As Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile ‘Win And You’re In’ For Pirate’s Punch

Whatever reservations trainer Grant Forster had about shipping Pirate's Punch from Kentucky to Monmouth Park for the second time in a little more than four weeks disappeared when he put the speedy 4-old gelding back on the work tab.

Disqualified from first place in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes for interference on Aug. 22 at the Oceanport, N.J., track,  Pirate's Punch has maintained the form that saw him cross the finish line a 1 1/2-length winner that day.

So Forster will try again, this time in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile that headlines Monmouth Park's 14-race card, and he will do so with an eye on the future: the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

“We were looking for any reason not to come back but he just would not give us any reason not to do it,” said Forster. “He has been absolutely fantastic every day since he has been back in Kentucky after the Iselin and he has answered every question we gave him.

“He deserves the chance to go back and do it again.”

But there's a little more to it this time, Forster conceded.

“We're looking at this race as kind of our win and you're in for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile,” he said.

Forster, who took over the training of Pirate's Punch from Jeff Mullins last summer, is still looking to add a graded stakes win to Kentucky-bred's credentials. He thought he had one in the Iselin in what was essentially a two-horse race between Pirate's Punch and Warrior's Charge, with Pirate's Punch disqualified from first for interference in the stretch.

“What can you do? That's sports,” said Forster. “Calls go against you in every sport in every country in the world. We were ecstatic with how our horse ran and we felt like we had the best horse that day. So we're back to try to do it again on Sunday.”

A son of Shanghai Bobby, Pirate's Punch shows a 4-3-4 line for 16 career starts, with earnings of $242,751. His appearance at Monmouth Park in the Iselin marked the 10th different track he has raced at over his career and the ninth time in his past 10 starts that he was trying a mile and a sixteenth.

He will be shortening up to a mile for only the third time in his career.

“I think a mile, a mile and a sixteenth, a mile and an eighth … I don't think there is any real specialty to him per se,” said Forster.

The eight-horse Salvator Mile field, he said, “is more well-rounded than the Iselin field was.”

“In the Iselin, Warrior's Charge was the most accomplished horse in the race,” he said. “You look at this field and see a horse like Bal Harbour and I am more worried about him this time than I was in the Iselin. It's his third time off the layoff. There's Top Line Growth, who ran a big number off a layoff. We'll see if he's ready to build off of that or if he will regress.

“With (Grade 1 winner) Valid Point (trying dirt for the first time in his career) you don't know if they're experimenting or if they feel this will move him up. I don't know. He's a hard read.”

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Warrior’s Charge Wins Iselin Via Disqualification

Trainer Brad Cox knows full well how tough graded stakes victories are to come by, so he will take the one by Warrior's Charge via disqualification in Saturday's Grade 3 $200,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park and move on.

With the stewards ruling that first-place finisher Pirate's Punch came in and intimidated Warrior's Charge late in the race at the Oceanport, N.J., track, Cox's horse earned the second graded stakes victory of his career after being placed first.

The 1 1/16-mile Iselin, reduced to a four-horse field after scratches, was essentially a two-horse race with Pirate's Punch, ridden by Jorge Vargas, Jr., and Warrior's Charge, handled by Paco Lopez, running neck and neck around the racetrack.

Pirate's Punch took a slight advantage in mid-stretch before starting to come over inside the sixteenth pole, with Warrior's Charge battling along the rail.

With 30 yards to go, Lopez stood straight up in the irons and effectively stopped riding, finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind the Grant Forster-trained Pirate's Punch. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Bal Harbour.

Final time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:43.37.

“He (Pirate's Punch) came in on me pretty good,” said Lopez. “I had to steady because of him. I had to completely stand up and stop riding. He came over. I think the stewards did the right thing. I had to completely stop riding my horse. I think my horse was still trying hard.

“I think if had a little room he would have come back to win because he's a fighter. You can see on the head-on how it bothered us and why I had to stop riding. That hole was there and then it closed very quickly when that horse came over on us.”

Gulliver Racing's Phil Bongiovanni, co-owner of Pirate's Punch, saw it differently.

Warrior's Charge, who started his 4-year-old campaign by winning the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park, earned his fifth victory in 11 career starts. The son of Munnings-Battling Brook by Broken Vow is owned by Ten Strike Racing and Madaket Stables LLC.

“Paco had the horse where he needed to be, up close or on the lead,” said Cox. “Pirate's Punch took off after us and I thought we were able to battle back and get in front of him but I'm not sure he ever did, even though he hung in there with him. Maybe we were going to come back. Obviously the stewards thought we were. We were fortunate to come out on the front end of this. The horse that crossed the wire first ran a tremendous race. I honestly thought he was a horse to contend with and he obviously was.

“It's strange, because a couple of more jumps and we're probably third. It was an unfortunate way to win a race, I guess you could say. But we'll take. Now we'll see how he comes out of it.”

Cox said his ultimate goal with Warrior's Charge is the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7. He hopes to find one more race before then.

“He will ship back to Kentucky tomorrow and we'll see how he is,” he said. “I think we'll look at one more race (before the Breeders' Cup Mile) but we'll see how he comes out of this first.”

Warrior's Charge paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite, dueling with Pirate's Punch through fractions of :24.10 for the opening quarter, :47.46 for the half, 1:11.17 for three quarters of a mile and 1:36.61 for the mile. They were never separated by more than a half-length until the incident in deep stretch.

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