Cogburn dazzles again in Turf Sprint, will head to BC Turf Sprint next

FRANKLIN, Ky. – The Count Fleet Sprint in April of 2023 at Oaklawn Park did not feel like a bright spot in the career of a horse named Cogburn. Held in high regard by trainer Steve Asmussen, who thought he was training a top dirt sprinter, Cogburn finished a flat seventh in that Count Fleet, his second straight subpar showing. But if not for that low point, Cogburn never would have hit his peak. Six weeks later, Asmussen tried Cogburn on grass.

“He was good on dirt, but now he’s dang near unbeatable on turf,” Asmussen said, standing in golden hour light at Kentucky Downs shortly after Cogburn had crushed a strong field in Saturday's Grade 2 Turf Sprint.

“Dang near unbeatable” might be underselling the horse.

Cogburn came into Saturday’s race with five wins – all stakes – from six grass starts, his lone defeat since the career-defining surface switch a close fifth in this race a year ago. Some wondered if Cogburn could produce his best over this undulating, irregularly shaped racecourse. That’s no longer in question.

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Cogburn broke awkwardly here a year ago but departed cleanly Saturday under Irad Ortiz Jr., and before a half-furlong had been run, he blasted to a clear early lead. No one ever came near him. Ortiz didn’t appear to come close to getting to the bottom of his mount, yet Cogburn still came home 3 1/4 lengths better than runner-up Khaadem, a multiple Group 1-winning sprinter in England. He ran six furlongs over a firm, fast-playing course in 1:07.68 and paid $4.20 to win.

History will be left to ponder how a horse this fast, this good, clearly the best turf sprinter in North America, was not an odds-on favorite today.

“We went to the turf, and that’s who we always thought he was,” said Asmussen, who trains Cogburn for Clark Brewster and William and Corrinne Heiligbrodt.

The Turf Sprint was worth $1,797,200, and Cogburn took home $1,176,600 of it, his bankroll now approaching $2.5 million. Axthelm rallied from 11th to finish third, a nose in front of Nobals, who won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

The Turf Sprint is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, though Cogburn already had a victory in a Win and You’re In race, the Grade 1 Jaipur at Saratoga. And yes, he’s going to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

“That’ll be his next start,” Asmussen said.

Cogurn hadn’t started since the Jaipur on June 8, Asmussen hewing to a lighter schedule this year, saying he over-raced the horse during 2023. Cogburn didn’t break in his 2023 races like he has been this season, an awkward start part of the reason he was defeated three-quarters of a length here a year ago. Asmussen said fewer trips to the post have produced a better gate horse.

“I was overdoing it. I showed my frustration with him not running up to par with running him too much,” he said.

Cogburn not only was the fastest horse in the early part of the Turf Sprint, he nearly was the fastest at the end of it. Widening a lead that had been 2 1/2 lengths at the stretch call, Cogburn’s final furlong in 12.20 was eclipsed only by Khaadem and Axthelm.

Khaadem, a fast-ground lover who has won the last two renewals of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, broke poorly and was last into the bend, the first turn he’d raced around in several years. He finished strongly between horses and might have earned another trip to America this fall for the BC Turf Sprint.

“First time over here, things a little bit new to him, a little awkward away, found himself out the back, and he finished lovely, so we’re really pleased with him,” said England-based trainer Charlie Hills.

Cogburn’s win in the Troy two Augusts ago at Saratoga, his first graded-turf stakes score, came over a rain-soaked course. In May, he won the Turf Sprint at Churchill by 2 1/2 lengths on boggy going. But in the Jaipur, he set a North American record for 5 1/2 furlongs while running on firm, fast ground. And even Kentucky Downs, like no other track in North America, could not blunt the brilliance of Cogburn, a son of Not This Time and In a Jif, by Saintly Look.

Cogburn has never been to California. They won’t beat him there, either, if he brings his New York and Kentucky turf races with him.

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