Blinkers have boosted United Nations favorite Arklow to new heights
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Arklow was a 6-year-old with 28 starts and earnings of about $2 million when, after a flat fourth-place finish last July as the favorite in the United Nations Stakes, trainer Brad Cox decided to make a change, adding blinkers to the horse’s race-day equipment. Arklow had won only one race in his last 13 starts at the time, but he comes back to Monmouth for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 United Nations with three wins in four starts since the equipment change.
“I hate to put blinkers on a horse who’s made a couple million, but his only defeat since then has been in the Breeders’ Cup,” said Cox.
Arklow finished sixth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths, in the BC Turf after decisively winning the Kentucky Cup Turf with blinkers added. He returned to capture the Hollywood Turf Cup in his 2020 finale and rallied strongly into a modest pace to win the 1 1/2-mile Louisville Stakes at Churchill in his only race this year. He and Florent Geroux drew the rail for the three-turn, 1 3/8-mile U.N. and figure to vie for favoritism with Tribhuvan, drawn on the outside in a 10-horse field.
Tribhuvan, too, underwent a form-bolstering equipment change when he was gelded before his 2021 campaign. The hormonal shift made Tribhuvan into a more manageable horse to train in the morning, trainer Chad Brown said, and a far more successful racehorse in the afternoon.
Tribhuvan wired the nine-furlong Fort Marcy at Belmont in his first start this year and ran even better in the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan there on June 5. Tribhuvan set a strong pace and led until stablemate Domestic Spending – the best grass horse in North America – overhauled him in the final furlong.
Tribhuvan’s five North American starts came around two turns, and now Flavien Prat, who never has ridden the gelding, will try to nurse his speed around three turns. Tribhuvan has raced this far only once, finishing seventh on dirt in a 1 1/2-mile start in Sweden two years ago. Tribhuvan’s sire, Toronado, was a miler, and the gelding is no sure thing to stay.
Brown also runs the longshot Serve the King and Master Piece. Master Piece likely failed to handle a wet grass course finishing sixth in the Manhattan, but on firmer footing is a much better horse than that.
Master Piece, from Chile, is one of three U.N. runners imported from South America, along with Imperador and Fantasioso. Imperador, trained in Kentucky by Paolo Lobo, was the best of them during their Southern Hemisphere days, winning two Argentine Group 1’s and coming close in two others, but in four North American starts he has failed to approach that performance level.
Fantasioso holds some intrigue as a fair-priced player Saturday. His trainer, Argentine native Ignacio Correas, believes Fantasioso has been shying from other horses both in racing and training, and therefore tries him in blinkers for the first time Saturday.
In the Louisville, just his second North American start, Fantasioso lacked clear passage in the homestretch trying to rally from 12th, and while he finished seventh, he was beaten only about three lengths by Arklow while never able to fully extend his stride. Fantasioso solidly stayed two miles while beaten only by the heavily favored Irish shipper Baron Samedi in the Belmont Gold Cup last month, and comes to Monmouth off a bullet drill – race rider Miguel Mena up – on July 12 at Keeneland.
:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures
Winters Back, trained by Todd Pletcher, and the deep longshot Epic Bromance are the ones who could hound Tribhuvan up front. And if they do, old Arklow – and his relatively new set of blinkers – will be waiting to pounce.