Kilwin edges Ragtime in Test Stakes despite stumbling start
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When May turned to June, Kilwin was considered a turf specialist and Ragtime was still an unraced maiden. So who could ever imagine that just two months later, the two 3-year-old fillies would come charging to the finish line just a neck apart in a race as prestigious as the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga? Kilwin overcame an unlucky start to register the narrow victory over lightly raced Ragtime on Saturday.
Kilwin made her first five career starts on the grass before finally switching over to the main track for the first time to win the seven-furlong Leslie’s Lady Stakes on June 8 at Churchill Downs. The performance earned her a berth in the Test alongside her George (Rusty) Arnold-trained stablemate Echo Sound, who went postward as the 3-2 favorite off her well-graded triumph here last month in the Grade 3 Victory Ride.
The Test ended a lot better than it began for Kilwin, who stumbled badly leaving the gate under jockey Jose Ortiz, dropping about a dozen lengths off the early pace set by Me and Molly McGee and prompted by both Echo Sound and Artisma. Kilwin was still last midway on the turn, angled to the extreme outside on entering the stretch, then finished full of run down the center of the course to overtake Ragtime in the closing strides.
Ragtime, who launched her career with a winning effort here on June 6, had only Kilwin behind her during the opening half-mile. She, too, fanned wide while launching her bid into the stretch, overtook the tiring leaders to gain command between calls at midstretch, briefly edged clear, but could not withstand the winner’s final surge. She finished 3 3/4 lengths in front of her uncoupled stablemate Beauty Reigns, who was followed, in turn, by Look Forward, Cash Call, Echo Sound and Artisma. Me and Molly McGee stopped badly, eased across the wire and was vanned off after the race.
Kilwin is trained by Arnold for BBN Racing LLC. A winner of the nearly $1 million Untapable Stakes on the grass last summer at Kentucky Downs, she completed seven furlongs over the fast track in 1:23.10 seconds to earn a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, matching the same number she received for her victory in the Leslie’s Lady. She paid $14.40.
“When she stumbled so badly, I thought she was out of the race, I thought she was done,” Arnold said. “I was watching the race on TV, she wasn’t in the picture, and I didn’t even consider her to be in the race back there. But Jose didn’t give up on her. He said he thought maybe he could still get her Grade 1-placed, finish third or something, and then ‘all of a sudden we were right on them.' It wasn’t like we drew it up, but it worked out well.”
Despite having won her last two starts on dirt, Arnold said it will be back to the turf for Kilwin in her next start, which will come in the $2 million Music City Stakes for 3-year-old fillies to be decided at 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs on September 7.
As for Echo Sound, Arnold said jockey Luis Saez told him she was great out of the gate and in a good spot.
“She has never run back that quick, she looked like she was having to work harder to be there,” Arnold said. “She has had a big year so far and today wasn’t her day.”
Trainer Bill Mot was pleased with Ragtime’s effort even in defeat.
He (jockey Junior Alvarado) said he had to wait, had to go a little wide at one point, and that after she made the lead she started waiting a little bit. He said she did it last time, too, but that was a different group of horses. She was a maiden just 60 days ago. For her third race, to be second in a Grade 1, you see it in 2-year-olds, but for a 3-year-old, in a race like the Test, that was a huge effort.”
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