Cogburn could run in Troy Stakes en route to Turf Sprint

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Cogburn emerged from his scintillating victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Japiur Stakes on the Saratoga turf in good order, and could aim for another stakes victory here this summer before some rich targets in the fall.

Clark Brewster, who co-owns the Steve Asmussen trainee with Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, said the 5-year-old was in good shape and good spirits on Sunday morning after his North American record-setting performance. Cogburn could target a repeat victory in the $300,000 Troy Stakes, upgraded to a Grade 2 this year, on Aug. 3 at Saratoga before aiming for the Grade 2, $2 million Turf Sprint on Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs and the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 2 at Del Mar. Cogburn earned an automatic berth into that Breeders' Cup race with his Jaipur win.

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"Steve and I haven't really talked [extensively] about the plan, but now that he's here, the spacing would be good for the Troy," Brewster said. "I think maybe we would look at the Troy, and then the Kentucky Downs race, and then the Breeders' Cup."

Cogburn was graded stakes-placed on dirt as a 3-year-old in 2022, but Asmussen felt he wasn't reaching his full potential and moved him to the turf. Cogburn won his first three starts on that surface, highlighted by his Troy win over eventual 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Nobals and 2022 heroine Caravel. He finished fifth in last year's Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint, but beaten less than a length.

After a freshening, Cogburn has re-emerged as an "absolute monster" this year, Asmussen said. He won the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on Kentucky Derby Day with a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. He improved in the Jaipur, dominating the field by 3 1/2 lengths on the front end and sizzling the 5 1/2 furlongs in 59.80 seconds, easily eclipsing the previous North American mark of 1:00.21 set by Carotari in a first-level allowance at Saratoga in 2019. He earned a 111 Beyer, tied for the second-highest figure this year.

"I've had some of the fastest horses in the world, some of the fastest horses of all time, and he's still the first one I've ever had run 5 1/2 furlongs in under a minute,” Asmussen said Saturday. “Five and a half furlongs in under a minute. That's not five-eighths five, that's five-and-a-half. That's basically a sixteenth of a mile faster than a fast horse.”

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