Maker sends veteran pair in Kentucky Turf Cup

Since the Kentucky Turf Cup became a true big-money race, offering a $600,000 purse in 2015, Mike Maker has gotten very, very serious about winning it. Eight runnings, five Maker-trained winners, and Maker’s three-pronged assault on Saturday’s edition of the Turf Cup includes the two shortest-priced horses in the race, Red Knight and Therapist.

These are old guys. Red Knight is 9, Therapist is 8. That’s right in Maker’s wheelhouse. Maker has made millions with aging turf marathoners. Sometimes, as with Red Knight, the horses come to him with long-distance bona fides. But in many cases, as with Therapist, Maker is claiming middling middle-distance turf horses and making them into long-distance turf ATMs.

Therapist ran for a $25,000 claiming price as recently as December. Maker and owner Michael Dubb claimed him for $50,000 in January out of his 37th start. Therapist’s best days seemed to have passed, and his best distance during his best days had been seven furlongs to one mile. April 1, two races after the claim, Therapist won the 1 1/2-mile Pan American Stakes, a Grade 2. He comes into the Turf Cup after the best race of his career, a 1 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes on July 22 at Monmouth Park.

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“He was one of those that looked like he settled nicely in his races, and he trained even,” Maker said. “We felt like he warranted a shot at longer distances. He’s an old class horse to top it off.”

Red Knight finished second in the 2020 Turf Cup when he was trained by Bill Mott. Last year, second start into a long-layoff comeback and second race for Maker, he won it by a neck. Red Knight earlier this year became a 9-year-old Grade 1 winner in the Man o’ War Stakes. He was outkicked in the stretch of the 1 3/8-mile U.N. but is a better fit at Saturday’s 1 1/2-mile distance.

“Red Knight is tearing the place down right now. It’s a tough call between them. They’re all training very well,” Maker said.

Maker’s third entrant is Me and Mr. C, who tried 1 1/4 miles for the first time last month at Ellis Park and won a stakes. He’s an outsider, while Red Knight and Therapist are the most likely winners.

Both horses are New York-breds while Me and Mr. C is a Florida-bred; none are eligible for the $400,000 portion of the Turf Cup’s purse restricted to Kentucky-breds, but they’ll be all right. There’s another $1.3 million in purse money available, and the Turf Cup is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, offering automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

The Grade 2 Turf Cup is the last of 12 on a Saturday program that starts at 11:30 a.m. Central and includes five other races worth $1 million. The nightcap is the cashing leg of an all-stakes pick five that starts with the Franklin-Simpson, race 8.

An overflow field of 16 was entered in the Turf Cup. Sy Dog is cross-entered in the Colonial Cup on Saturday.

Therapist is listed as the 7-2 morning line favorite under Javier Castellano, but Red Knight, with Tyler Gaffalione, probably is a shorter price. Red Knight was 11th in the BC Turf last fall but has been competitive in his other eight starts for Maker. Hard to believe, but he’s having a better season at 9 than he did at 8.

“He has his moments, can be kind of an old cranky horse,” Maker said. “Right now, he’s feeling his oats.”

Red Knight was only about one length behind Therapist at the head of the Monmouth stretch, but Therapist got away from him and galloped out like he could suit this longer trip even better. Therapist’s string of works since the U.N. are as fast as any set he’s ever turned in, and he ran well at a shorter distance in his lone Kentucky Downs start.

“He’s been on the muscle lately,” Maker said.

Get Smokin is a speed horse at much shorter distances and assures a lively pace. Santin, whose two Grade 1 wins have come going 1 1/8 miles at Churchill Downs, won’t be far behind.

While Santin was an improved second last month in the Arlington Million, he seems unlikely to stay a distance this far, and Verstappen might be trainer Brendan Walsh’s best hope. Verstappen won the 1 1/2-mile Elkhorn in April and after regressing his next two starts came back to that level in the Bowling Green on July 30 at Saratoga.

Another Mystery, a 7-year-old, is listed at 30-1 on the track’s morning line but ought to be a shorter price than that. He’s a 1 1/2-mile specialist who was beaten a mere neck by Red Knight in the 2022 Turf Cup.

Spooky Channel, another 8-year-old, has won half his six 1 1/2 mile starts and will improve on a prep race last month at Ellis Park. Never Explain, a veritable youngster at age 5, tries 1 1/2 miles for the first time after a fourth in the 1 1/4-mile Million

“I think he’s a true route runner. There was a hole in the Million, he just missed a little bit,” said trainer Shug McGaughey.

Thing is, Maker rarely misses in the Turf Cup.

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