Kentucky Turf Cup winner Get Smokin will go straight to Breeders' Cup
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Mark Casse wasn’t at Kentucky Downs on Saturday, but of course he was watching closely as his longshot Get Smokin loaded into the gate, broke on top, and quickly took a lead in the $1.7 million Kentucky Turf Cup. Get Smokin was cruising in the clear, going easily.
“Watching the race, I said to myself, ‘Hmm, this is interesting,’ ” Casse said Monday morning.
Get Smokin had been a miler most of his career and was boldly attempting to get 1 1/2 miles in his first try over the distance. A course that favored speed horses Saturday, in great part because it was difficult to produce finishing acceleration on the laboring surface, worked in Get Smokin’s favor.
“If we were ever going to get a mile and a half, it was going to be then,” Casse said.
Get Smokin got the 1 1/2 miles on Saturday, winning clear, and if all goes well, he’ll try to get it again under much different circumstances in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Get Smokin earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for his performance and came out of the race, part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, better than he had in other instances, Casse said. He’ll be based at Churchill Downs and train up to the BC Turf.
Turf Cup runner-up Spooky Channel (97 Beyer) also is BC Turf-bound, trainer Jason Barkley said. Connections wanted a competitive top-three finish for Spooky Channel to punch his ticket to Santa Anita and got it.
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Santin barely was beaten for second but might not have quite stayed the distance in his first try, trainer Brendan Walsh said. Plans are up in the air for him.
Favored fourth-place finisher Red Knight, winner of the 2022 Turf Cup, raced against the track profile and ran decently. He could show up in the Sycamore Stakes on Oct. 13 at Keeneland, trainer Mike Maker said, while the Maker-trained Therapist, eighth in the Turf Cup after falling too far off the pace, might be wheeled back in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Sept. 30 at Belmont at Aqueduct.
Gear Jockey, upset winner of the Turf Sprint, another BC Challenge race, got a 99 Beyer and is likely to be trained up to the BC Turf Sprint. The 7-year-old gelding appeared to have taken his race well, trainer Rusty Arnold said Sunday, while winning for the first time since he captured the 2021 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs.
Turf Sprint runner-up One Timer, who lost a photo finish, got a 98 Beyer and will be trained up the BC Turf Sprint, trainer Larry Rivelli said. So will his stablemate, Nobals, who got a 99 Beyer winning the Da Hoss on Saturday at Colonial Downs.
Three-year-old Private Creed won the Franklin-Simpson over 6 1/2 furlongs with a lifetime-best 98 Beyer and will be aimed at the BC Turf Sprint. Whether he makes an interim start in October hasn’t been determined, trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Vergara’s 95 Beyer from her win in the Ladies Turf Marathon marked a career top and was part of a very good weekend for trainer Graham Motion, whose 18 runners went 4-6-2, won three stakes, and earned $1.14 million. Vergara has no concrete agenda but is possible for the Dowager on Oct. 22 at Keeneland.
Austere looked like a BC Juvenile Fillies Turf candidate with a sharp win in the one-mile Juvenile Fillies on Sunday, and Walsh, her trainer, hopes that’s the case. Austere, who got a 78 Beyer, could run Oct. 6 in the Jessamine at Keeneland.
Asmusen also won the Juvenile Mile on Sunday with Aspenite, who got a 62 Beyer. The colt will get a breather after making two starts in 11 days, his trainer said.
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