Blinkers-on Arklow shows improved tracking speed to take Kentucky Cup Turf

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Arklow evened the score with longtime rival Zulu Alpha when getting first run on the odds-on favorite Saturday en route to a mild upset in the annual showcase event of the Runhappy meet at Kentucky Downs, the Grade 3, $910,000 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup.

“This is a race we always circle on the calendar for him,” trainer Brad Cox said after giving jockey Florent Geroux a leg up before Arklow proceeded to finish 1 1/4 lengths before Red Knight in the 1 1/2-mile race, with Zulu Alpha checking in third as the 4-5 favorite in a field of 10 older horses. “He’d been touting himself a lot going into this.”

Changi, Eons, and Postulation took turns on the lead during the opening mile, with Arklow forwardly placed in fourth. Down the stretch, Arklow surged to command, surging away from Red Knight while Zulu Alpha was unable to rally sufficiently from well back to threaten the top two.

Arklow returned $13.60 as third choice after finishing in 2:28.66 over a turf course rendered soft by heavy rain earlier in the day.

“It was a great trip for him,” said Geroux. “He was closer to the lead than he’s used to. The [softer] ground also helped. From there, I just nursed him around and he waited for my signal down the stretch. He was able to hold off those horses pretty easily.”

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Remarkably, the Turf Cup marked the 10th meeting between 6-year-old Arklow and 7-year-old Zulu Alpha, with each now finishing ahead of each other five times. At first, Arklow held an edge, but Zulu Alpha, trained by Mike Maker, had gone ahead when emerging as one of America’s elite long-distance turf horses by winning such major races as the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf in January. Arklow had finished a well-beaten fourth behind the victorious Zulu Alpha in their last meeting in the Elkhorn at Keeneland in July.

Arklow won the 2018 Kentucky Turf Cup but had found the winner’s circle just once in 13 tries in the interim, leading Cox to equip the horse with blinkers for this race.

“We’d trained him and breezed him blinkers, and it seemed to light a fire under him,” said Cox, whose stable has been red-hot this month with four graded stakes victories in a nine-day span, most notably the Kentucky Oaks with Shedaresthedevil. “We won’t be taking them off him anytime, that’s for sure.”

Arklow, a Kentucky-bred by Arch, is owned by Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger, and Peter Coneway. He now has earned $2,466,116 from 29 starts.

The top three finishers all can be expected to point to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

The $2 exacta (5-2) paid $69, the $1 trifecta (5-2-10) returned $83.10, and the 10-cent superfecta (5-2-10-4) was worth $137.45.

The Turf Cup was the pinnacle of five straight stakes that culminated the richest program of the six-day meet at this spectator-free, turf-only track.

With both the New York and Southern California circuit dark this weekend, a track-record handle on this card was to be expected. Indeed, $17,437,731 was wagered on the 11-race card. The former record of $11,322,270 was set last year on a 10-race Kentucky Turf Cup card.

Maker, easily the leading trainer in track history, had won four of the last five runnings of the Turf Cup – Da Big Hoss (2105-16), Oscar Nominated (2017), and Zulu Alpha (2019). Earlier Saturday, he sent out four straight winners (races 2 to 5).