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Brazilian-Bred In Love Gives French Jockey Achard Biggest U.S. Score In TVG Stakes

The Brazilian-bred In Love scooted up the rail in the $330,160 first division of the TVG Stakes while holding off favored Kentucky Ghost for a 2 1/4-length victory at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., giving French-born jockey Alex Achard his biggest purse victory in America.

With Brown Storm and Tut's Revenge setting a resolute pace, Achard settled In Love into fourth in the field of nine older horses, gradually picking up steam before getting through on the inside at the top of the stretch and taking command. Kentucky Ghost ate at his deficit in the final eighth-mile but didn't threaten the winner. He did, however, nail Brown Storm to take second by a head. In Love covered the mile and 70 yards in 1:38.55.

Those who bet the winner certainly were in love, as the 5-year-old trained by Paulo Lobo paid $19.40 while racing in blinkers for the first time.

“I won the last time at Arlington,” Achard said, referencing a neck allowance victory over yielding turf. “That was pretty good. We thought that would be an easier swing, but we had to fight. Today was even better.

“I knew that there was enough speed in the race, which is good for us because he can be a little bit tough sometimes. We got the pace and were just behind chilling. When I asked him to go, he just went.”

Trainer Vicki Oliver said the distance was too short for Kentucky Ghost to be most effective. “He ran really well,” she said. “That was our biggest concern, that it would be too short for him. He's always been a mile and an eighth-type of horse. His mom was a mile-and-a-half type of horse. We were hoping to get the pace that we got. We just couldn't close into it at a mile and 70 yards.”

Kentucky Ghost's jockey Rafael Bejarano thought he was in a winning position until Achard made his decisive, clever move.

“I had a good trip. I saved ground and had a beautiful position coming down the lane,” Bejarano said. “I let him out in the stretch and my horse gave me a good run, a good finish, but the winner today he stole the race. He had a good trip inside and he kept going.”

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Though born in Brazil, In Love raced in Argentina in 2019 before Bonne Chance farm owner Alberto Figueiredo sent him to Lobo in the United States, where he's now won three of seven starts. The only times he wasn't competitive was in the slop in a Keeneland allowance. He also finished eighth, beaten 6 1/2 lengths, in his only previous U.S. stakes, Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Wise Dan.

“Since he came here, he's run very well,” the Lexington-based Lobo said. “The day of the Wise Dan, after the race he came back a little sick with a virus. I think that's why he didn't perform well that day.”

Since he wasn't born in Kentucky, In Love wasn't eligible for the $100,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund purses that help fatten the pot for each $400,000 division of the TVG. But he still earned a healthy $178,560 to more than double his earnings to $279,700 off a 4-2-2 record in 12 starts.

Even without racing for the maximum purse, In Love still provided the 30-year-old Achard his biggest victory since coming to America three years ago. Earlier this year the Indiana Grand-based jockey won Arlington Park's Grade 3 Chicago Stakes, but that race was worth $100,000, with Abby Hatcher earning $57,600.

“Now it's even better,” Achard said of this victory.

In Love is a son of the Japanese Sunday Silence stallion Agnes Gold and out of the Brazilian mare Last Bet, who is by the Irish-bred Know Heights.

“We bred him in Brazil, and we send our best stock to race in Argentina,” said Figueiredo. “This horse is no exception. When all the COVID started to stop all the races over there, we put him on a plane with two others. It was well worth the bet we made on him.

“This horse never disappoints us. And to be frankly honest, I always expected a little bit more from him. Even in his time in Argentina. He was always a horse that worked so well. Sometimes he did not do the same in the afternoon. But with time and more experience, and now maybe with the blinkers, I think we'll figure out more of him.”

A year ago, Figueiredo and Lobo brought the Brazilian-bred Ivar to Kentucky Downs, finishing third in the race now known as the WinStar Mint Million but in his next start won Keeneland's Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile. Ivar subsequently finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

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Home Sweet Home: Snapper Sinclair Posts Another Kentucky Downs Stakes Win

Using an unusual style, Snapper Sinclair won the second division of the $400,000 TVG Stakes Wednesday to add to his already solid reputation as the ultimate horse for the course at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.

The 6-year-old owned by Bloom Racing led from gate to wire under jockey Julien Leparoux to become the first horse to win three stakes at the track. In his lone losing performance at Kentucky Downs, he was second by three-quarters of a length in last year's Tourist Mile (now the WinStar Mint Million).

In the first division of the TVG, In Love came from off the pace under Alex Achard to win by 2 ¼ lengths at 8-1.

Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, Snapper Sinclair paid $6. The son of City Zip trained by Steve Asmussen completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:40.24 and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Bob and Jackie.

“When the horse loves the track, it's a big help and he obviously does,” Leparoux said. “He travels good on it. Going downhill or uphill he is very comfortable with it. It's a big effort for us and I'm glad he won it today.”

Snapper Sinclair picked up his seventh win in 33 career starts and the first-place purse money of $239,320 pushed his career earnings to $1,793,250. While he has run well at other tracks during his career, all of his stakes victories have come at Kentucky Downs.

“He definitely has an affinity for Kentucky Downs,” said Jeff Bloom, president of Bloom Racing, which partners with Chuck and Lori Allen on many of their horses. “Clearly, this is a track that Snapper is very fond of and Snapper is horse we're all fond of. He's the coolest horse there is. He's just the best.”

The horse was named for a jockey played by Mickey Rooney in the 1936 movie “Down the Stretch.”

The TVG was Snapper Sinclair's fourth start of the season and first since finishing second in the G3 Opening Verse at Churchill Downs on April 29. He opened the season with an allowance victory at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 4 and turned in a solid fourth-place finish in the G2 Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup program on March 27. He was beaten a neck and a nose for second.

“This is exactly where he needed to be,” Asmussen said. “He got a little bit of a break. I'm glad he was ready for Kentucky Downs. He definitely made us proud. He definitely shines here at Kentucky Downs. He's been a very special horse, that's even after making the trip over to (Dubai) this year. Just very proud for the Blooms and the Allens. Snapper has been very good to us for a long time.

“He ran beautifully today. He responds very well for Julien here, and very pleased to have him on him. Just a great victory celebration.”

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Leparoux said the race did not play out the way he expected when Snapper Sinclair broke sharply and was quickly in front.

“I didn't really want to be on the lead, to be honest, but he took me there very easy,” Leparoux said. “He was traveling very nice. He pointed his ears around the turn so I knew he was going to finish up good.”

With first Penalty and then Midnight Tea Time in pursuit in second, Snapper Sinclair set early fractions of 23.38 and 47.65 seconds. He had a one-length lead through six furlongs in 1:12.57.

Bloom, a former jockey, smiled as he described his reaction when Snapper Sinclair was setting the pace.

“He had been off a little bit, he was fresh, he broke so well and Julien said he was going so well, there was a change of plans,” Bloom said. “If you look at all of his races here at Kentucky Downs it's different every time. With Snapper, put him out there and he'll figure it out.”

Bob and Jackie, trained by Richard Baltas, hopped at the start and got away sixth in the field of nine. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez moved him into contention a couple of lengths behind Snapper Sinclair, but he could not overcome the handicap he gave himself in the long run through the stretch.

“I think it's a race he could have won,” Velazquez said. “Broke slow, and that's it. He ran a good race. (Snapper Sinclair) loves it here. And everything went his way, too. He loves the course and everything went his way.”

Lori Allen was surprised to learn that he was the first horse to win three stakes at the track.

“I had no idea. That's awesome,” she said. “He should have a race named after him here. He loves this race. He came so close last year, he's nearly a four-time winner. But he tries everywhere. Everywhere he goes, boy, he never lets us down. He puts it all down every time.”

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Road to 2021 Breeders’ Cup: Three Heating Up, Three Cooling Down for Sept. 8

The path to the 2021 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar on Nov. 5-6 is a road with plenty of ups and downs as talented racehorses vie for a spot in one of 14 championship races and $31 million in purses and awards. This blog provides a capsule look at three horses who are heating up on the Road to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and three horses whose Breeders’ Cup chances are not quite as strong as they were two weeks ago.

Canadian Champion Mighty Heart Headlines Saturday’s Seagram Cup

Mighty Heart, Canada's reigning Horse of the Year, is set to tackle 1 1/16-miles on the Tapeta, in Saturday's Grade 3 $150,000 Seagram Cup at Woodbine.

Trained by Hall of Famer Josie Carroll for owner-breeder Larry Cordes, Mighty Heart, a four-year-old son of Dramedy-Emma's Bullseye, will look to deliver his connections a second graded stakes score after taking the Grade 3 Dominion Day on July 1.

The one-eyed colt, who recorded wins last year in the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, the first two jewels of the Canadian Triple Crown, is in the midst of another fruitful campaign, having posted wins in the Dominion Day and Blame Stakes, a second in his most recent engagement, the Grade 3 West Virginia Governor's Stakes on August 7, and a third in his seasonal bow at Keeneland in April.

Mighty Heart brings a record of 5-1-2 from 12 career starts into his latest test.

“His tenacity [stands out],” said Carroll. “The one thing I've always said about this horse is that he's a little scrapper.”

Daisuke Fukumoto, aboard for the Queen's Plate, Prince of Wales and Dominion Day victories, gets the call again on Saturday.

“He made my dream come true so he is special,” said the graded stakes winning rider. “I don't have any particular tension when I ride him. I don't get scared or nervous when we race. I'm always very conscious that I make him run comfortably. I would just like to say one more thing… it's very fun to ride him.”

Mighty Heart launched his career with a pair of starts at Fair Grounds in early 2020. Those efforts, a fourth and a tenth, respectively, eventually led to a discussion between Cordes and a horse chiropractor.

“I knew there was something wrong in those first two races,” recalled Cordes. “The chiropractor was looking him over one day and thought something wasn't right with his jaw. The horse was uncomfortable when he was looking at his face area, so we had a vet come in. He found an inflamed tooth and we took care of it. The rest is history.”

Mighty Heart's next start, last July, resulted in a maiden-breaking performance in what was his first race at Woodbine. He soon grabbed headlines in Canada and beyond after his stirring scores in the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales.

This spring, Mighty Heart was voted Canada's Horse of the Year for 2020, and champion Three-Year-Old Colt.

“This horse, he has a determination,” praised Cordes. “He is all heart. He started with a big handicap having no eye, but he didn't let it affect him. He has this fight and he has this grit, whether it's on the track or not.

“When he had his eye injury – and we're 90 per cent sure it was the mare who caused it – we took him to the veterinarian in Guelph (Ontario) and they told us they had to take out the eye. But they told us not too worry about it too much. At his age, less than two weeks old at the time, they said that he'll never know he could have had two eyes. When you watch him run – horses have good peripheral vision – he cocks his head just slightly to the left. Not badly, just enough so that he has that peripheral vision to see what's beside him and have a good view.”

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Mighty Heart's story has created a significant following, both on Mighty Heart's Instagram page (mightyheart.tb) and whenever he goes postward.

“He has a lot of followers,” said Cordes. “I get calls from the United States all the time and different media people from so many places. It's not attention that's just happening locally. Everybody likes an underdog and the fact he only has one eye makes it a compelling story.”

Cordes continues to receive correspondence from fans, young and old.

“I get letters from children, postmarked to Mighty Heart, not Larry Cordes. They draw pictures and share stories. I send horseshoes to them – everybody who sends something I return something to them along with a letter. Some people send Mighty Heart cookies. I don't know how many times people have sent these cookies, which I guess are supposed to be horse cookies. He has a big following and it just makes me so happy.”

The longtime horseman's biggest joy is in seeing the happiness his star brings to others, especially over the past year and a half.

“What's really fantastic is that during this pandemic, what this brought to people… when I go to the track, many people will stop me and say, 'This lifted us up a little bit.' It's done so much just to lift them up a little bit throughout this pandemic.”

Cordes is hoping there's more reason to celebrate come Saturday.

“When he won the Dominion Day, I was going down the escalator, and a gentleman, three people in front of me, threw up his arms up in the air as far as he could reach and yelled, 'You're great, Mighty Heart!' He didn't know that I was behind him, but it showed me what he has done for people. It's absolutely thrilling. I'm proud of him and I'm so happy. If he never wins another race, I'm still so proud. But he has plenty left in him. He's as sound as sound can be. He's just an amazing horse.”

The Seagram Cup is scheduled as race three of 10 on Saturday's 1:10 p.m. card, which also includes the $150,000 Vice Regent Stakes (race seven), a 5-furlong Inner Turf race for Ontario-breds, three-year-olds & upward.

Fans can also watch and wager on all the live action via HPIbet.com.

$150,000 SEAGRAM CUP STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Special Forces – Kazushi Kimura – Kevin Attard

2 – Another Mystery – Antonio Gallardo – Chris Block

3 – Dolder Grand – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

4 – Mighty Heart – Daisuke Fukumoto – Josie Carroll

5 – Tap It to Win – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

$150,000 VICE REGENT STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Alacritous – Steven Bahen – Ashlee Brnjas

2 – Celebratory – Justin Stein – Ashlee Brnjas

3 – Circle of Friends – Patrick Husbands – Don MacRae

4 – Rockcrest – Keveh Nicholls – Nigel Burke

5 – Souper Hot – Kazushi Kimura – Mike Mattine

6 – Not So Quiet – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

7 – City Boy – David Moran – Michael Keogh

8 – Forester's Fortune – Daisuke Fukumoto – Rodney Barrow

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