Grand Arch holds on in Shadwell Turf Mile

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Grand Arch narrowly held off The Pizza Man in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile, as both 6-year-old geldings will head off to the Breeders’ Cup in separate events.

Grand Arch got a perfect stalking trip under Luis Saez and needed every bit of it to finish a head in front of the late-surging The Pizza Man in the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile, the last of five graded stakes on a very eventful Saturday program at Keeneland.

“I just waited for a little room until the top of the stretch, and I got it,” said Saez. “Then I heard two guys flying up. We held on.”

Tourist also was gaining steadily along the rail, finishing just a neck behind The Pizza Man. Seek Again was another 1 1/4 lengths back in fourth in a field of 12.

Grand Arch, the second choice at 4-1, earned the automatic Breeders’ Cup berth that comes with a victory. Trainer Brian Lynch confirmed that Grand Arch will run next in the $2 million BC Mile on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

The Pizza Man, meanwhile, got a very useful sharpener for the $3 million BC Turf, a 1 1/2-mile race for which he already had earned a Win and You’re In berth in his prior start, the Aug. 15 Arlington Million.

Grand Arch returned $10.60 to win after finishing in 1:37.45 over a yielding course. A Kentucky-bred by Arch, he earned $600,000 to lift his bankroll to $1,607,230 for owners Susan and Jim Hill. He was coming off a neck victory in the Grade 2 Fourstardave at Saratoga on Aug. 15.

“It’s great to see him, as he gets older, getting better and better,” said Lynch. “He handled the going very well today.”

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The race was marred by the breakdown of Skyring, who suffered an open fracture in his right hind leg on the backstretch and was euthanized soon thereafter. Owned by Calumet Farm and trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Skyring, a 6-year-old horse by English Channel, was a multiple graded stakes-winning earner of $710,854 from 38 lifetime starts.

After the top four, the order was Dutch Connection, King Kreesa, Kelinni, Jack Milton, Bobby’s Kitten, Heart to Heart, and Grand Tito. War Envoy was scratched about an hour before the race.

The $2 exacta (4-10) paid $52.80, the $1 trifecta (4-10-12) returned $230.80, and the 10-cent superfecta (4-10-12-13) was worth $297.02.

This was the 30th running of the Shadwell Turf Mile, which was won in 2012 and 2014 by Wise Dan, the recently retired two-time Horse of the Year who was paraded before the crowd between races Saturday.

Attendance on a dank afternoon was 15,984.