Minaret Station ($78.88) surges from far back to take Bourbon Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Minaret Station is bred to be a nice turf horse. He's from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Instilled Regard, and out of Beau Recall, a four-time graded stakes winner who earned more than $1.4 million.

But despite his ideal lineage for two-turn turf stakes, and a maiden win going a mile in his second career start last month at Horseshoe Indianapolis, Minaret Station was overlooked in a full field of 12 juveniles, including four with prior stakes experience, for Sunday's Grade 2, $350,000 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland. The colt was sent away as the second-longest shot on the board, but rewarded his sparse believers to the tune of $78.88 as he swept to a 1 1/2-length win going away in the Bourbon.

The win earned him an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf next month at Del Mar.

Will Walden, who saddled his first Keeneland stakes winner, trains Minaret Station for owner-breeder Larry Best's OXO Equine. Best made a splash in the sales ring early in his career as an owner by buying expensive colts - and then, as those colts came to stud, he purchased prominent mares to suit them. Instilled Regard, a $1.05 million 2-year-old purchase by Best, won four graded stakes, highlighted by the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes in 2020. That fall, Best purchased Beau Recall for $350,000 out of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. When Instilled Regard was retired to Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky for the 2021 breeding season, Beau Recall became part of his classy first book.

:: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.

Minaret Station was third on debut behind Giocoso - who was sent away the Bourbon favorite - at Ellis Park, then won a one-mile maiden special weight in Indiana. Although he was closer to the pace in that win, tracking in third for the opening half-mile, Walden and jockey Cristian Torres spoke in the paddock about letting the colt settle wherever he wanted in the early going. That turned out to be a bit farther back than expected.

"I didn't expect him to be almost last," Walden said.

Indeed, Minaret Station was 10th in the field of 12, and a little less than six lengths behind Clock Tower, who led a well-bunched group by a measured length through the opening half-mile in 47.02 seconds. But Torres was comfortable where he was.

"We knew from the quarter-pole to the wire, he always accelerates," Torres said. "He was comfortable and on the bit the whole time. At the quarter-pole, when I asked him to pick it up, he picked it up very nicely."

Torres kept the colt moving in the three-path around the far turn, avoiding any loss of momentum, then angled out nearing the furlong grounds. With most eyes focused on Clock Tower, who was digging hard on a course that had been kind to front-runners to hold off Cavallo Bay and Golden Afternoon, Minaret Station suddenly appeared on the scene on the outside late, and swept by with reaching strides for the win.

“As he moved up to the quarter pole I was just hoping the speed didn’t back up in his face, and it didn’t,” Walden said. “Cristian navigated it beautifully and the horse exploded. He got it done.”

Those behind Minaret Station were lapped on one another for the other placings. Golden Afternoon edged Clock Tower by half a length for second. They were another half-length ahead of Cavallo Bay, who held fourth by three-quarters over Warlander. They were followed, in order, by Giocoso, Warheart, Siesta Key, Reach for the Rose, Papiamento, Fleming, and Baytown Baracus.

The time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.28.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.