Bowies Hero gets the trip and the money in Shadwell Turf Mile

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Flavien Prat is one of the best jockeys in North America. He holds himself to high standards and wasn’t happy when Bowies Hero fell too far behind the early pace and ran into furlong-long trouble finishing fifth Aug. 18 in the Del Mar Mile.

Saturday at Keeneland, in a 14-horse race filled with tight spots and tough-luck stories, Prat engineered a lovely trip for Bowies Hero, who bounded home a three-quarter-length winner of the Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile.

“Flavien made amends,” said Phil D’Amato, who trains Bowies Hero for Mark Martinez’s Agave Racing Stable, Erik Johnson’s ERJ Racing, and Sol Kumin and Jason Monteleone’s Madaket Stables. “He wasn’t happy with himself last time, thought he should have been in a better position, but one thing about great jockeys – they learn and adapt.”

Prat kept Bowies Hero between horses in seventh or eighth around the first turn and down the backstretch, pulled outside for a clear run past the three-furlong marker, and got a strong final furlong from his mount to finish the job.

“He broke a step slow last time but today he broke better,” Prat said. “He wants to be in the race, but he’s not going to put himself there if you don’t ask him. Before we hit the [far] turn I was able to tip him out and from there he gave me a good run.”

Bowies Hero, who paid a generous $18.40, earned an automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Mile, a race he missed last year after connections pulled the plug on the horse’s campaign in August. D’Amato, reached by phone in California, said that if all went well, Bowies Hero, who flies back to Santa Anita on Oct. 10, would start in the Breeders’ Cup.

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D’Amato kept another turf miler, Prince Earl, at home to run in the City of Hope Mile on Saturday at Santa Anita, where he finished third, and decided to send Bowies Hero out on the road.

“The great thing about this partnership is with a nice horse they don’t mind taking shots,” D’Amato said. “We knew our horse was in really good form and they were all for it.”

Diamond Oops broke on top in the Shadwell, run over a firm, fast-playing course, and alternated for the lead with Real Story through a half-mile in 47.23 seconds, a modest tempo considering the half-mile pace in the First Lady earlier on the card went in 45.40. The pace caused the bulky field to really bunch into the turn and through the homestretch, and several horses had bad luck. Valid Point, the 2-1 favorite, wasn’t quite quick enough to hit a hole at the three-sixteenths pole, then got stuck behind a wall of horses in the late stages.

Diamond Oops, helped by the pace and staying on well, squeaked out the place in a blanket finish for second. Suedois, fanned wide at the top of the stretch, was a nose back in third, and trainer David O’Meara said with a better post than 12, Suedois, who won this race in 2017, could have come out on top. So might have fourth-place First Premio, a nose behind Suedois, had things gone better for him. First Premio didn’t break especially well, came off the bit past the half-mile pole, tried to lug in when starting to gather momentum in upper stretch, and finished fastest once jockey Miguel Mena got him outside.

“He gets intimidated when he’s in with other horses,” Mena said.

March to the Arch finished a nose behind First Premio for fifth, followed by last year’s winner, Next Shares. Then came Divisidero, Van Beethoven and a one-paced Bandua in a dead-heat for eighth, Valid Point, a disappointing Admission Office, Vintager (who was checked in the stretch), Robin of Navan, and Real Story.

Winning time was 1:34.20. 1.33 seconds slower than Uni’s mile in the First Lady.

Bowies Hero, who added a second Grade 1 to the 2017 Kilroe Mile, now is 8-1-3 from 21 starts and has rebounded beautifully as a 5-year-old following his lackluster 2018 season. He’s by Artie Schiller out of Remembered, by Sky Mesa, and for an encore will try to win an even bigger race next month at his home track.