Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Mongolian Saturday takes his road show to Del Mar

At this point, new frontiers have become hard to find for Mongolian Saturday.

Over his five years of racing, the 7-year-old Any Given Saturday gelding has run for a $25,000 tag and won a Breeders’ Cup race. He has competed at 16 different tracks in the United States, England, and Hong Kong; raced over dirt, turf and synthetic; and entered the gate for races from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, from bullrings to the Santa Anita downhill course.

Somehow, Mongolian Saturday finds one more box to check in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar, when he competes over his 17th different track.

Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2015 at Keeneland, Mongolian Saturday has relished his road warrior itinerary, trainer Enebish Ganbat said.

“I think he’s the most traveled racehorse in America,” Ganbat said. “You know why we travel with him so much? Because he likes to travel.”

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This year’s Turf Sprint will be Mongolian Saturday’s third crack at the $1 million race. He sprung the upset in 2015 at odds of 15-1, then faded to ninth last year going down the hill at Santa Anita. Between those two starts, he took sojourns to race in Hong Kong and at Royal Ascot.

Picking up even an eighth-place check would make 2017 his second-best by purse earnings, but Mongolian Saturday has struggled to find his groove this season. He is winless in seven starts, and his Beyer Speed Figures have been noticeably lower than his past two campaigns. If he does not improve on his best Beyer of 91 by the end of the year, a figure he has hit in his last two starts, it would be his lowest peak number for a season.

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On the positive side, he remains a competitive runner in big spots, having finished second in the Grade 3 Parx Dash Stakes and Turf Monster Handicap, and most recently running third in the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes on Oct. 7 at Keeneland.

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His Beyer figures have not been as dynamic this year, but they are more consistent. Mongolian Saturday’s lowest figure of 2017 is an 88, which is his highest seasonal bottom-end number among campaigns with three or more domestic starts.

Ganbat said the Mongolian Saturday who travels to Del Mar is physically a different animal from the one that won the Turf Sprint in 2015, but a changing body type has not changed his conditioning.

“When he won the Breeders’ Cup, he was more muscled,” he said. “Now, he’s a little skinnier. We feed him really good, but he’s still skinnier.”