It looks on the past performances like they forgot to put in the final time of the Jaipur Stakes. That 59.80? A five-furlong split, not a 5 1/2-furlong clocking. And yet that is how long it took Cogburn to finish the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga. Cogburn won by a wide margin, 3 1/2 lengths, and no horse in modern North American racing ever had run as fast in a 5 1/2-furlong grass race. “It was unbelievably exciting,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Cogburn for Clark Brewster and William and Corrinne Heiligbrodt. “He was just smoking.” If Cogburn runs back to his Jaipur in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint on Saturday at Kentucky Downs, his first start since the Jaipur, he’ll smoke the competition and go on to Del Mar as the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. The Turf Sprint, contested at six furlongs, is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series – as was the Jaipur – offering the winner automatic fees-paid entry and travel expenses to Del Mar. It’s also, including a $1 million Kentucky-bred enhancement, worth twice as much as the $1 million BC Turf Sprint. Cogburn ran well in many of his first eight starts, all on dirt, but has consistently been a considerably faster horse on turf. Since being switched to grass, the 5-year-old, by Not This Time, has won 5 of 6. The lone defeat? The 2023 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, where he was fifth, beaten less than one length. “He’s just better now, and at that point he’d done a lot of racing last year. He was a tired horse,” Asmussen said. Cogburn also broke poorly in the 2023 Turf Sprint, and poor gate habits kept his natural speed from being expressed. He led most of the way on a scorching Jaipur pace. “I don’t want to jinx it, but he’s been a lot better in the gate. He was getting himself left last year,” Asmussen said. Cogburn would have run in the Troy Stakes last month at Saratoga, but the race first was postponed a week, then taken off turf. “That does have me coming here off more time than I’d prefer,” Asmussen said. The Turf Sprint drew an overflow field of 13. The also-eligible, Five o’Somewhere, doesn’t belong in the race. Bear River, cross entered at Colonial Downs, runs in Kentucky, while Axthelm wheels back just six days after a local allowance win. Among Cogburn’s rivals are the winner of the 2023 Turf Sprint, Gear Jockey, and the winner of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Nobals. Gear Jockey’s stirring victory last year was his first win since he’d captured the 2021 Turf Sprint, and his start Saturday marks his first outing since the BC Turf Sprint. Still, do not underestimate trainer Rusty Arnold’s ability to get this horse to this race. Nobals finished a close fourth in a July 28 Saratoga allowance, his lone start since he won the BC Turf Sprint at odds of 12-1. “I thought he ran good,” trainer Larry Rivelli said. “He got hung wide. It’s tough when you’re seeing daylight all the way. Nobals has excelled in short turf sprints but won well racing six furlongs on a synthetic track in 2022, and Rivelli believes this distance suits him. A year ago, Rivelli won the Da Hoss at Colonial Downs with Nobals the same day One Timer was beaten a head by Gear Jockey in this race. This time, both horses, Rivelli said, are slated to start at Kentucky Downs, where One Timer lost by a head to Arrest Me Red in an Aug. 31 allowance with a $227,000 purse. “I couldn’t pass up what I thought was a free square there. It wasn’t a free square,” Rivelli said. “I’d like to have two or three weeks in between, but he came back really good. I kind of waited all year for these races.” The Turf Sprint has a dash of overseas flavor, the multiple Group 1-winning England-based Khaadem starting for trainer Charlie Hills, who is getting the kind of Kentucky weather he hoped for – nothing but sunshine. Hills says you can put down many of Khaadem’s flops, including his last two races, to course conditions. “He’s a bit of a character. He has a huge amount of talent, but he just does not like any sort of softer surface,” Hills said. “He likes really fast ground.” Eight-year-old Khaadem has won the last two renewals of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee over a straight six furlongs at Royal Ascot, a performance level that puts him in Cogburn’s territory. Khaadem hasn’t raced around a turn in more than three years, but that doesn’t concern Hills. Grooms All Bizness and Witty, on their best day, can make an impact. But no one, not even Khaadem, beats Cogburn if he brings his Jaipur form back to Kentucky. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.