Breeders' Cup: Leinster gives Dunne family another bit at the Turf Sprint

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint will take just over a minute to run next Saturday at Keeneland – Leinster holds the course record, 1:00.86, for the 5 1/2-furlong trip.

But for the Dunne family, which co-owns the horse, their involvement with the race spans far more than a minute. Ciaran and Amy Dunne, who launched Wavertree Stables in 1995, gave Leinster his early training several years ago – as they previously did with his champion half-brother, Stormy Liberal – and have patiently watched their stable star develop.

“This horse is his passion,” Caitlin Dunne, Ciaran and Amy’s daughter, said of her father after Leinster won the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland in his final Breeders’ Cup prep. Leinster races in the name of Amy Dunne, along with Brenda Miley, Westrock Stables, and Jean Wilkinson.

“This is his heart horse,” Caitlin Dunne continued. “He loves him so much, and my mom does, too. So getting to be here and represent them when he runs like this, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Leinster, by Majestic Warrior and out of the winning Royal Academy mare Vassar, was foaled in 2015, bred in Kentucky by Jeff Bowen’s Gryphon Investments. At the time, Vassar had already produced Grade 3-placed stakes winner Shimmering Moment, Grade 1-placed Coast Guard, and stakes-placed Garifine. The mare also had a winning 3-year-old named Stormy Liberal, by Stormy Atlantic, bred by Gryphon in partnership with Dapple Bloodstock. The Dunnes broke Stormy Liberal, and sold him for $100,000 as a juvenile via their Wavertree consignment at the 2014 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s June auction.

The Dunnes also gave Leinster his early under-tack training, and brought the colt to the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile sale. He failed to meet his reserve, with a high bid of $75,000.

“Leinster’s a really special horse to my parents,” Caitlin Dunne said. “We broke Stormy Liberal as well. So when Dad got his hands on Leinster – I remember when we took him to the sale, we didn’t sell him, my dad called me and he said, ‘I can’t wait to race this horse.’ ”

The family’s stock proceeded to skyrocket. While the Dunnes prepared to race Leinster, Stormy Liberal won four stakes in 2017, including the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar for Rockingham Ranch, David Bernsen, and trainer Peter Miller. He returned to win the 2018 Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs, earning an Eclipse Award championship.

Meanwhile, Leinster hit the track in 2018, but took some time to find his stride. Initially trained by Wayne Lukas, he was eventually transferred to Keeneland-based trainer Rusty Arnold, finally winning his maiden in his 14th career start.

“It took a while for him to get to what he wanted to do,” Arnold said. “But the Dunnes wanted him to go to the grass and sprint. That’s the only reason he came from Wayne to me. Wayne got unlucky with him. He had him in sprinting on the grass three times, and it was rained off the turf all three times.”

Leinster won the Grade 3 Troy at Saratoga last year and placed in two other graded stakes. He finished seventh in the 2019 Turf Sprint at Santa Anita, with Stormy Liberal eighth in his title defense. That marked the eighth start of Leinster’s season. By comparison, he is relatively fresh this time, with three starts in 2020. He is likely to be among the favorites for the Turf Sprint with consecutive graded stakes wins, setting his course record in the Grade 2 Shakertown in July before winning the Woodford.

“He had run a lot last year,” Arnold said. “This pandemic is a horrible thing, but maybe helps him. He was probably over-raced a little bit last year. At the end of the year, I think that the last two weren’t as good. He’s a fresh horse now.”

If Leinster should win the Turf Sprint, Vassar would become the sixth mare to produce multiple Breeders’ Cup winners. In alphabetical order, the mares to hold that distinction are Hasili, dam of two Filly and Mare Turf winners in Banks Hill (2001) and Intercontinental (2005); Leslie’s Lady, dam of three-time Breeders’ Cup heroine Beholder and Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn; Primal Force, dam of 1998 Classic winner Awesome Again and 2000 Juvenile winner Macho Uno; Sweet Life, dam of 2004 Juvenile Fillies winner Sweet Catomine and 2009 Ladies’ Classic winner Life Is Sweet; and Win Approval, dam of a pair of Mile winners in Miesque’s Approval (2006) and World Approval (2017).