Mongolian Saturday works for trip to Hong Kong

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mongolian Saturday received special treatment befitting a Breeders’ Cup winner when he was given permission to work over a freshly watered and harrowed main track after regular training hours Friday morning at Gulfstream Park.

Mongolian Saturday, who outlasted Lady Shipman by a neck to win the BC Turf Sprint, will make his next start Dec. 13 in the $2.4 million Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin Racecourse. The Hong Kong Sprint will be run at 1,200 meters, or about six furlongs. Florent Geroux, who guided Mongolian Saturday to victory in the Breeders’ Cup, will be aboard again in Hong Kong.

Working clockwise – the direction in which the Hong Kong Sprint will be run – with regular exercise rider Santiago Aragon aboard, Mongolian Saturday broke off at the six-furlong pole and covered a half-mile past the finish line to the eighth pole in 47.17. He completed his final quarter up the stretch into a stiff headwind in 23.68 while going easily throughout. Mongolian Saturday switched from his right to his left lead on cue once coming off the clubhouse turn, drifting out slightly while completing the breeze and galloping out to the quarter pole in 1:02.74.

While watching Mongolian Saturday cool out in a walking pen shortly after the work, trainer Enebish Ganbat said he was very pleased with what he saw.

“Today, we did a good job,” said Ganbat. “We wanted to see how he would react on the opposite side on the turn, and he did very well. He switched leads very nicely. Hopefully, he’ll be just as good in Hong Kong. This was the first time he ever worked in this direction. We’ve jogged and galloped him lightly the wrong way but never worked in that direction before. He’s ready to go.”

Ganbat’s biggest concern is the long trip Mongolian Saturday must take to Hong Kong. He’s scheduled to leave south Florida on Monday.

“It’s at least 15 hours, maybe more because they stop in Alaska for two more hours,” said Ganbat. “One and a half years ago, I sent him to Santa Anita from here, and even inside the U.S., it took 14 hours because the plane made several stops. I wasn’t experienced with that kind of trip. I sent him out to train hard the day after he arrived, and after that, he was done. Now I am experienced, and I will give him a couple of days off after he arrives in Hong Kong.”

Ganbat said he plans to bring Mongolian Saturday back to Gulfstream Park to freshen up following the race in Hong Kong.

“We plan to maybe sent him to Dubai in March now that we’ll have given him this experience of making a very long trip,” said Ganbat. “We’ve also received an invitation from Royal Ascot to participate in a race there in June.”

Mongolian Saturday is one of 11 horses Ganbat has stabled at Gulfstream.

“Right now, he’s the only stakes horse we have here,” said Ganbat. “But we have five babies also bred by the same sire, Any Given Saturday. Hopefully, some of them will turn out to be stakes horses one day, too.”