Cairo Cat ($36.20) earns BC berth with Iroquois win

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the trainer of Restless Rider, the runner-up finisher from the Grade 1 Spinaway, trainer Kenny McPeek exited the Saratoga meet holding a promising hand for the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs this fall. Now two weeks after Saratoga, with his stable’s focus on Kentucky, his cards are even better.

Joining Restless Rider, a leading prospect for the Juvenile Fillies, he now has a colt for the Juvenile in Cairo Cat, who on Saturday punched his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup by winning the Grade 3, $150,000 Iroquois at Churchill Downs by running down favored Tight Ten.

“It’s an enviable position,” McPeek said by telephone from Lexington, where he was attending the Keeneland September yearling sale.

Not only do both 2-year-olds possess talent, but they are also professional, with Cairo Cat demonstrating that trait Saturday. In winning the Iroquois - a 1 1/16-mile dirt race that serves as a “Win and You’re In” qualifying race for the Juvenile and a modest point-earning race for next year’s Kentucky Derby – Cairo Cat performed like a seasoned, older horse. He rallied up the inside from seventh, taking dirt in his face, before angling out in deep stretch to catch Tight Ten and pull away by a half-length.

“He didn’t travel around there like a 2-year-old, that’s for sure,” winning jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said.

Runner-up Tight Ten, sent off at just over even money after a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special in his prior start, made the winner work, though a miscue in the final furlong when he swapped leads seemed to slow his momentum. He was well clear of his other rivals, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place Pole Setter.

A 2-year-old son of Cairo Prince owned by Walking L Thoroughbreds, Cairo Cat raced 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:45.35, marginally faster than the time Serengeti Empress ran in winning the Pocahontas in a geared-down romp in 1:45.47. Dismissed by the betting public, he paid $36.20.

“I'm not surprised,” McPeek of the victory. “He's just a big horse that seems to be coming around. The big surprise was that he was 17-1 or something.”

Hernandez, also the regular jockey aboard Restless Rider, said he is excited about the future for both 2-year-olds, particularly in light of their proven affinity at Churchill Downs. Restless Rider won the Debutante at Churchill in the spring meet.

“With the Breeders’ Cup coming here, we have to go in there smiling and being excited to have the right kind of horses in our corner,” he said.

While Cairo Cat’s first two-turn experience came Saturday, Restless Rider’s first route is to come next month at Keeneland in the Grade 1 Alcibiades on Oct. 5. Like the Iroquois, that stake is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier, serving as a prep for the Juvenile Fillies.