Gear Jockey ($48.60) first in the crowd at Turf Sprint finish
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FRANKLIN, Ky. - As the veteran trainer Rusty Arnold, a true Kentucky horseman, stood on the apron terrace just 20 yards from the finish line of the Kentucky Downs course and looked intently at the infield video screen, a small group who knew him walked past and told Arnold they thought Gear Jockey had won a tight photo in the $1 million Turf Sprint. You could tell Arnold was not going to jump to conclusions. And you could tell he thought he’d won. The people walked away. “Holy s...t,” Arnold said under his breath.
Gear Jockey won the Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs in 2021. Then he lost eight races in a row with only a lonely third-place finish during that span. Seven-year-old Gear Jockey returned from an eight-month layoff and finished sixth, beaten 11 lengths, in the Van Clief Stakes on July 22 at Colonial Downs. The real wonder was that he went to post Saturday at only 23-1. Gear Jockey reasonably could have been twice that price. Instead, he had won a million-dollar race for the second time in three years.
Holy s...t, indeed.
Gear Jockey’s miraculous renaissance was several parts epic training job and equal parts game racehorse. Gear Jockey battled on the lead with Bad Beat Brian, who would not go away through the long homestretch. Favored One Timer had tipped outside, making a run, bearing down on the two leaders. The finish came, One Timer bearing down, and not only was the victory uncertain, but a great blurry mass of horseflesh galloped across the line.
Gear Jockey, after an agonizingly long wait for the photo finish results, came out on top. In fact, he had won by a head, not a nose, but separating everyone behind him took some doing.
A neck behind One Timer came Bad Beat Brian. Olympic Runner was fourth, a neck behind Bad Beat Brian and a head in front of Cogburn. Cogburn beat sixth-place Front Run the Fed by a neck, and Eamonn was a head back in seventh.
There was a several-lengths gap back to eighth, but the first seven home were separated by little more than one length. Winning time for six furlongs on a course officially rated “firm” was 1:10.59. The improbable hero paid $48.60.
“He’s had his issues, but we thought we had him in pretty good shape. He loves this course – obviously,” said Arnold, who trains Gear Jockey for Calumet Farm.
Connections of One Timer, the 3-2 favorite, thought they’d lead from the rail post. Instead, Bad Beat Brian sprang out of the gate and onto the engine, Gear Jockey and Jose Lezcano setting out after him.
“I just got outrun the first eighth,” said E.T. Baird, One Timer’s jockey. Cogburn also got in front of One Timer and into the pocket behind the two leaders, who took the field through a half-mile in a snappy 45.08. Cogburn came off the fence at the quarter pole, One Timer gaining ground outside of him. They gradually closed on the leaders, Olympic Runner finishing fastest. Lezcano had his head down, pumping furiously. It was just enough.
“Great ride – great ride,” Arnold said.
Great ride, great race, great story. Gear Jockey, a homebred by Twirling Candy out of Switching Gears, by Tapit, began his career in 2019 as a route horse. He was good, too, finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita, but Arnold unlocked greater potential when he cut the horse back to sprints during the summer of 2021. That led to the dominant Turf Sprint win here two falls ago, but Gear Jockey last year looked like he was just going through the motions. It was body, not mind, that troubled the horse, and each time Gear Jockey ran below form, Arnold said, there was an explanation.
That was the case until the Colonial race last month. An intended Ellis Park comeback had been aborted when turf-course sprinklers were left running overnight; grass racing was canceled. “We were scrambling,” said Arnold. Arnold sent Gear Jockey to Colonial in good shape, expecting a competitive run that didn’t come. But Gear Jockey was feeling good physically, and that’s what was important. “When you get him over here without his issues, he’s a different horse.”
In fact, he’s close to the same horse at 7 that he was at age 5, remarkable considering the interim form decline. Saturday’s race was part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, and Gear Jockey earned automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Turf Sprint. He’s going, all being well, Arnold said, and won’t race again before then.
The BC Turf Sprint is contested this year at Santa Anita over five furlongs, shorter than Gear Jockey’s best distance. That also was the case in 2021 at Del Mar, and his Juvenile Turf third came at Santa Anita.
“Every time we get this horse to the Breeders’ Cup, it’s in California,” Arnold said.
He was smiling, not complaining.
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