2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Mackinnon impresses with six-furlong workout
DEL Mar, Ca. - Workouts aren’t everything when it comes to Breeders’ Cup horses. A horse can work lights-out and still be too slow to contend in a Breeders’ Cup race.
But it was hard not to be impressed with the way Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf starter Mackinnon worked Saturday morning over the Del Mar dirt.
Mackinnon, working in company with a 10-race maiden named Gerlach’s, was timed by Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch in 1:14.72 for six furlongs, by which point Gerlach’s had been left far, far behind Mackinnon, who flashed past the wire and around the clubhouse turn full of run.
“He’s always been an impressive horse,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “I guess he’s worked as fast as that before, but I’m not sure he’s ever been that visually impressive.”
Saturday’s strong work mirrors what Mackinnon has been doing in his races. Mackinnon, a $285,000 2-year-old-in-training purchase sired by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, debuted on dirt and was beaten more than nine lengths. Turf sprinting in June, he finished a distant second in a Santa Anita maiden race, but since being switched to turf routes Mackinnon has gone 3 for 3, with two victories over the Del Mar lawn preceding his Santa Anita score in the Zuma Beach Stakes. Mackinnon’s ascending Beyer Speed Figure pattern has gone from 58 in his maiden-breaker to 72 in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf to 76 in the Zuma Beach, which he won by more than two lengths with a decisive move.
“He’s maturing,” said O’Neill, crediting jockey Juan Hernandez for helping develop the colt. “Juan has really helped teach him to relax. This is what you hope and pray for with these talented young horses, that growth and development.”
O’Neill and the other 10 trainers with horses aimed toward the one mile, $1 million Juvenile Turf will be hoping and praying for a decent position draw and some racing luck. With 14 young horses entered in a race with a short run to the first of two tight turns, good fortune will be paramount in the Juvenile Turf.
Trainers Charlie Appleby and Mark Casse each have multiple runners for the Juvenile Turf, with Modern Games joining Summer Stakes-winner Albahr for Appleby and Godolphin. Casse already had Coinage and Grafton Street aimed at the Juvenile Turf, and when Annapolis was withdrawn from consideration this week because of an injury, it allowed the Casse-trained Credibility into the field.