Imperador holds off Arklow, takes narrow Turf Cup win

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Imperador may have been a little lucky Saturday, but mostly he was good. The Argentine-bred got first run on favored Arklow at a critical juncture of the Calumet Turf Cup before holding on by a diminishing neck for easily the biggest victory of his 14-race career.

Given a terrific ride by Joe Talamo, Imperador spurted clear of his rivals leaving the eighth pole in the $715,105 Turf Cup, the 1 1/2-mile signature race of the six-day Kentucky Downs meet. He needed most of that advantage when finishing ahead of a furious rally by Arklow, who had been bottled up in midstretch before unleashing his run under Florent Geroux.

“I thought I had the horses measured in front of me,” said Geroux, who was bidding to win the Turf Cup for the third time in four years on Arklow, the 2-1 favorite in a field of 12 older horses. “I had to take a hold and come around, and it was too late.”

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Still, the undisputed winner was Imperador, a 5-year-old horse trained by Brazil native Paulo Lobo for the partnership of Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R D I. As an Argentine-bred, the 5-year-old horse by Treasure Beach was ineligible for the $450,000 in bonuses restricted to Kentucky-breds from an original purse of $1 million.

The winner’s share was $317,130, but, besides that, Imperador also earned an automatic expenses-paid berth into the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar in Southern California, where Lobo was based for nearly two decades before moving his stable to Kentucky in 2018. Imperador is a Breeders’ Cup nominee and therefore will not have to be supplemented, as required for some foreign-breds.

Imperador paid $19.20 when finishing in a course-record 2:25.70 over firm ground.

“I tried to be a good passenger the whole way around there,” Talamo said. “He settled in good and, turning for home, he had a good turn of foot.”

Talamo and Lobo also combined to win the richest race of the 2020 fall meet at Keeneland, the Shadwell Turf Mile, with Ivar.

On a sunny, breezy Saturday, Channel Cat was among three horses to attend the pace, along with longshots Epic Bromance and Big Dreaming, while Imperador and Arklow raced close to each other near the back of the pack until about the three-eighths pole, where Talamo wheeled his mount to the outside and into the clear. Soon after, Geroux found himself in a very tight spot between Epic Bromance and Big Dreaming, costing him precious time and a possible third Turf Cup win.

“It was just a tough beat, bad luck,” said Geroux, who went to see the stewards about the incident as soon as he dismounted. “If I split horses and get through, they’ll tell me it’s a great ride. I didn’t. I got squeezed, and it’s a bad ride.”

Imperador won three of eight starts in Argentina before coming last year to the U.S., where he had gone winless in five starts but had put in an encouraging effort in his latest when second at 23-1 behind Tribhuvan in the Grade 1 United Nations on July 17 at Monmouth Park.

“I was expecting a huge effort,” said Lobo, a Brazil native whose greatest career win remains the 2002 Kentucky Oaks with Farda Amiga. “He was doing very good for this race.”

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After Arklow, a 7-year-old who won this race in 2018 and 2020 for trainer Brad Cox, Glynn County was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third, followed by Ajourneytofreedom in fourth. Channel Cat faded to sixth as the 7-2 second choice.

Zulu Alpha, the 2019 Turf Cup winner, was among four early scratches that permitted three longshot also-eligibles into the field. Zulu Alpha, an 8-year-old with more than $2.2 million in earnings, has been retired.

The $2 exacta (1-5) paid $87.60, the $1 trifecta (1-5-9) returned $221.10, and the 10-cent superfecta (1-5-9-8) was worth $182.52.

The Turf Cup was the fourth of five straight stakes on the biggest day of the meet.

*** Closing day is set for Sunday with three stakes anchoring a 10-race card that starts at 12:20 p.m. Central.