Half-brothers square off in Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint

FRANKLIN, Ky. – They might’ve heard the rejoicing all the way out in California, the way the Kentucky Downs folks carried on in March upon learning the track had been granted its first-ever Win and You’re In event toward the Breeders’ Cup.

Indeed, the celebrating gets real Saturday when the winner of the Grade 3, $700,000 Runhappy Turf Sprint will earn an expenses-paid berth to the Nov. 2 BC Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. It won’t come easy, as some of the top performers in this category will run in this six-furlong race at turf-only Kentucky Downs.

Stormy Liberal, the 2018 turf champion still seeking his first victory as a 7-year-old, is among a stacked lineup of 10 older horses that also includes his similarly talented half-brother Leinster, along with other highly capable sorts such as Imprimis, Totally Boss, and Wet Your Whistle.

Trained by Peter Miller in Southern California for Rockingham Ranch, Stormy Liberal won the BC Turf Sprint last fall at Churchill Downs with a 119 Beyer Speed Figure. The Stormy Atlantic gelding has been second or third in all four starts since then and surely will be prominent from the opening bell when he stretches out from the five-furlong Green Flash last month at Del Mar.

Leinster, 4, is a relatively new player in the North American turf-sprint ranks, having pulled a mild upset in his last start, the Aug. 3 Troy at Saratoga, and earning a career-high 108 Beyer with his third straight victory, all for owner Amy Dunne and trainer Rusty Arnold. Remarkably, the Majestic Warrior colt had lost his first 13 starts before turning things around.

Leinster and Stormy Liberal are among seven foals to race from the 20-year-old mare Vassar. They’ll start alongside each other in posts 8 and 9, respectively.

Imprimis earned a 109 Beyer in winning a five-furlong turf stakes in 54.64 seconds in March at his Gulfstream Park base, and confirmed his peak form by overcoming serious trouble to win the Grade 2 Shakertown four weeks later at Keeneland. Imprimis will be making his first start since trainer Joe Orseno accompanied him in mid-June to Royal Ascot for the Group 1 King’s Stand, in which the 5-year-old gelding finished sixth.

“It took him a little while to rebound from Ascot,” said Orseno. “But he gained all his weight back and has been getting very aggressive. He’s training well going into this.”

Totally Boss, a second Arnold trainee, is a nose shy of winning his last four starts and clearly has never been better.

Wet Your Whistle, based in Maryland with Mike Trombetta, was a two-back winner of the Grade 1 Highlander over the Woodbine turf and presents a late threat here, particularly if the pace is too hot.

The rest of field is Cautious Giant, Smart Remark, White Flag, Jazzy Times, and the 9-year-old Undrafted.

The Turf Sprint purse includes $200,000 in bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, for which all but the Florida-bred Imprimis are eligible. All but Wet Your Whistle are BC nominees.

This is the 21st running of the Turf Sprint, which leads off an all-stakes pick four as the seventh of 10 Saturday races. Post time is 3:53 p.m. Central.