Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line of Duty targeting English classics

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Line of Duty, who won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday, will jet back to England early next week, then travel on to Dubai, where he’ll winter, probably not race, and prepare for the English classics of spring 2019.

Uncle Benny, who might have won the Juvenile Turf with better luck, is headed to Florida, plans uncertain, with a move from turf to dirt under consideration.

Line of Duty overcame a demanding trip and survived a stewards’ inquiry and jockey’s objection by Irad Ortiz, Uncle Benny’s jockey, to win the Juvenile Turf for Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and jockey William Buick.

“The horse has pulled up well this morning,” Appleby said Saturday. “He’s game and he’s tough. He’ll be put to bed for the winter now.”

:: Want to get the latest news with your past performances? Try DRF’s new digital PPs

Line of Duty got an 83 Beyer Speed Figure for running one mile on turf in 1:40.06, the slowest clocking in the 12-year Juvenile Turf history. The time was 1.06 slower than it took Newspaperofrecord to cover the distance 82 minutes earlier in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Masar finished unplaced in the 2017 Juvenile Turf for the same connections after Buick lost an iron going into the far turn. In Dubai, Masar was tried on dirt in the Al Bastakiya Stakes, where he flopped, was put away for the rest of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, and returned to action this past spring in England, where he won the Epsom Derby. Line of Duty will be on a similar schedule, only with no dirt race in Dubai this winter. The colt flies back to England on Monday and then travels on to Dubai in mid-December.

“We’ll start stepping his work up in January and go from there,” Appleby said.

Line of Duty if all goes well will have his first race at 3 in the English 2000 Guineas, run over a straight mile the first Saturday in May. “The Guineas would be the primary aim to start off, and it’s probably one of the best trials for the Derby as well,” said Appleby.

Uncle Benny, meanwhile, came out of a frustrating loss in good shape, trainer Jason Servis said Saturday. Servis, with some evidence behind him, felt he ran the best horse Friday. Uncle Benny was moving strongly around the far turn and coming inside Line of Duty at about the five-sixteenths pole when Line of Duty shifted in just enough to cause Ortiz to check. Uncle Benny righted himself, rallied again, and was bumped fairly soundly by a drifting-in Line of Duty in the final 50 yards. The stewards took a good long look at both incidents but let the result stand.

“Frustrating, but I’m not a guy to have sour grapes,” Servis said Saturday morning.

Uncle Benny was making his first two-turn start Friday following a winning debut going five furlongs on dirt at Monmouth Park and a last-to-first victory in the $150,000 Futurity, a six-furlong grass race at Belmont. Uncle Benny is by Declaration of War and out of Celebrity Cat, by Storm Cat, and he is a bruiser of a horse, both tall and heavily muscled for his age. Servis said Uncle Benny was given plenty of time to develop into his frame before serious racetrack training began, and hopes are high for his future. That future could include a return to dirt, something Servis said he was “keeping in the back of my mind.”