Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: Harper's Corner looks to flip script on cutback
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Harper’s Corner looked to be home free in the Grade 3 Matron Stakes on Oct. 3 at Belmont Park, opening up by daylight at midstretch before Brickyard Belle flashed by in the final strides to win it by a half-length. Can Harper’s Corner turn the tables in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday at Keeneland? For trainer Cal Lynch, there is reason to believe.
“I’m glad Keeneland has the shorter stretch,” Lynch said. “That should help us. I think the 5 1/2 furlongs suits her better. I think she has a real chance.”
Harper’s Corner will break from post 10 against a full field in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, with morning-line favorites Libertango and Brickyard Belle to her inside in posts 4 and 3, respectively. She will try to become the third filly to beat the boys in the race.
The daughter of Speaker’s Corner won her maiden in her debut for owner Charles Biggs on dirt at Laurel Park in June and came back to pull off a 12-1 upset in the Schuylerville at Saratoga in July. Second best in the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 5 at the Spa before switching surfaces last time, she drops back in distance from the six-furlong Matron. Why the pivot?
“When you’re Irish, you think everything can turf,” Lynch said with a chuckle. “We had tried her on the turf at Fair Hill a few times before her maiden race, and we liked the way she handled it.
“We were working backwards from the Breeders’ Cup,” he added. “Two turns on the dirt is, I think, a little too far for her right now. Not that she won’t get that in the future, but the owner really wanted to get to the Breeders’ Cup this year if we could, and the best option was the Juvenile Turf Sprint.”
Lynch, who emigrated from Ireland in 1996 and saddled his first stateside winner the following year, makes his introductory appearance at the Breeders’ Cup.
“I’ve won more than 1,000 races, and we’ve had some nice horses, but none that I thought could take us to the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “I’m fairly conservative, I don’t want to run just for the sake of it. It can be discouraging to a horse to have its head handed to it, and we actually like the horses. We don’t want to do that to them. But Harper’s Corner earned her way here.”
Lynch is enjoying the experience.
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“It’s great – the people couldn’t be nicer,” he remarked. “The filly had a good morning training on the Tapeta, everything is going to plan. We’re really fortunate and blessed to have this opportunity. We’re here, and we’re having fun – no pressure!”
The pressure is on jockey Paco Lopez, who will be aboard Harper’s Corner in the Breeders’ Cup. Lopez, who captured the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Roy H, won’t have to look back to know something might be gaining on him. Both Libertango and Brickyard Belle are confirmed closers.
Libertango has been first or second in all five starts to date. She beat the highly regarded Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf favorite Sun Goddess in the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and was a winner in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes in August before Sun Goddess got the better of her in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes most recently Sept. 26. Her sire, No Nay Never, was runner-up in this race in 2014.
“This filly has always shown a high level of ability, even before she started, and she has progressed all through the year,” trainer George Boughey said. “I’d go so far as to say she’s the best she’s been all year; she looks amazing for this time of year. I couldn’t be much happier with her.”
While Libertango’s style has been to sit at the rear of the field early, Boughey indicated there may be a slight change in tactics for the Breeders’ Cup. Flavien Prat has the call, replacing jockey Billy Loughnane, who was unable to make the required 119-pound weight Libertango will carry Friday.
“We might need to jump a little bit faster if we want a handier spot,” Boughey said. “I’m open to riding her closer to the pace.”
Trainer Miguel Clement will leave the tactics for Brickyard Belle to Manny Franco on Friday. Undefeated in her two tries, the classy daughter of Yaupon had just one horse behind her at the top of the lane in the Matron before rolling home to win it as the even-money choice.
“She’s a very straightforward filly,” Clement said of the Kentucky-bred, who arrived from New York on Sunday. “We brought her pony with her from Saratoga so there wouldn’t be any hiccups, but she has trained beautifully, and now it’s up to Manny.”
Like Lynch and Boughey, Clement bids for his first Breeders’ Cup victory here. For Jim Briles, part of the ownership group with Brickyard Belle Racing and Beggs and Flowers, it will be his very first try.
“This is my first time at the Breeders’ Cup, my first experience,” he said. “It’s actually my first year in racing. We went to the Derby and we fell in love with it. We have 22 horses now. We don’t do things halfway; we are all in.”
Briles is co-founder and COO of a global shipping logistics company based in Atlanta. He was named “One of Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOs” of 2017. He credits Case Clay and Clement for finding the filly, who was purchased for $600,000 at an Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction in March.
“We had a budget, but we went through it pretty quickly,” he admitted.
But the filly has proved to be well worth the price.
“She’s amazing. She’s so calm, but she knows exactly what to do on the racetrack,” Briles said. “She has a good post. I feel good. I feel confident.”
Acknowledging his beginner’s luck, he added with a laugh, “This is easy, right? We’ll be doing this every year!”