Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Minaret Station tries to land Walden a debut victory
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No winner of the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland went on to capture the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Trainer Will Walden hopes his first Breeders’ Cup starter will be the first horse to do the double.
Minaret Station might come to Del Mar under the radar, but that didn’t matter in the Bourbon. At odds of 38-1, he blew past three rivals in the final furlong like they were tied to a post and galloped out powerfully – right into the Juvenile Turf.
“His Beyer backs up the way he ran, the Rag number backs it up: Whatever metric you use, backs up what he did visually,” Walden said.
Minaret Station earned a 78 Beyer and went off a big price after finishing third in a good Ellis Park turf maiden route before winning the same kind of race at Horseshoe Indianapolis. There, the colt showed resilience and a high turn of speed when a well-meant Brendan Walsh-trained horse named Dream Scheme headed Minaret Station at the furlong grounds.
“He’s pretty professional in his training, but first time out he’d pick the bit up, then drop it, pick it up, then drop it,” Walden said. “I didn’t expect that. I expected too much, really, first out.”
Walden, 33, trains 31 horses after becoming a head trainer in 2022. He’s the son of Elliott Walden, CEO of WinStar Farm and a former trainer who went winless with six Breeders’ Cup starters. Will Walden’s first enters with little fanfare but a realistic chance to continue his arc of improvement.
“I think as he grows and matures and gets older, not only his body but mentally he’s going to turn into a really, really nice horse,” Walden said.
Minaret Station already possesses good size. A homebred owned by Larry Best’s OXO Equine, Minaret Station is by Best’s stallion Instilled Regard and the first foal from Beau Recall, a four-time Grade 2 winner of middle-distance turf stakes. Minaret Station appears to have inherited similar baseline ability, but even in the Bourbon his immaturity showed. From the three-furlong marker to nearly the quarter pole, Minaret Station wasn’t taking jockey Cristian Torres anywhere, though Torres, having ridden the colt his first two races, knew his mount had more to give. Turning for home he took Minaret Station on an inside path before switching outside for an impressive final run.
“It wasn’t until he dove inside and got back outside that you really saw that electric turn of foot,” Walden said.
Torres retains the mount in the Juvenile Turf. Minaret Station came out of the Bourbon “on his toes, bouncing.”
“He’s been pretty fresh,” Walden said.
While Walden’s first Breeders’ Cup runner might give his Juvenile Turf foes a run for their money, we still don’t know exactly who they are.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien, who has won this race six times, has yet to reveal exactly the hand he intends to play at Del Mar. Camille Pissarro, up late to win the Group 1 Jean-Luc Lagardere on Oct. 6, apparently is a leading candidate.
Trainer Charlie Appleby, a three-time Juvenile Turf winner, has two horses listed as probable starters: Aomori City, fourth last out in the Group 1 National in Ireland, could ship from England, while Al Qudra, second in the Summer Stakes at Woodbine, worked this past weekend at Keeneland and travels from there.
Summer winner New Century is also an intended Juvenile Turf runner for England-based trainer Andrew Balding.
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