Mr. Misunderstood tops Tourist Mile
Even long before Mr. Misunderstood won at Ellis Park in his last start, owner Staton Flurry was looking ahead to the Tourist Mile at Kentucky Downs.
“We’ve had the Tourist Mile on our schedule since early in the year,” said Flurry.
And with good reason. Mr. Misunderstood, trained by Brad Cox, has developed into one of the most productive turf milers in the Midwest over the last 18 months or so, and the $750,000 purse up for grabs Saturday is a worthy goal indeed. With Florent Geroux riding, Mr. Misunderstood will be favored when he breaks from post 1 in a field of eight older horses in the 21st running of the Tourist Mile, the richest of four stakes on the opening-day card at Kentucky Downs in south-central Kentucky.
Mr. Misunderstood has won 10 of 13 career turf starts, the latest a 1 1/4-length score in the Aug. 5 Tourist Preview at Ellis. Flurry and Cox both said they are excited about the way the 4-year-old gelding has trained at his Churchill Downs base in the interim.
“He’s ultra consistent, has been very good to us,” said Cox. “We found out he liked the grass early in his 3-year-old year. He’s coming into this race in great shape; really glad we were able to get a race into him at Ellis. He always carries a lot of flesh.”
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Probably the chief threat to Mr. Misunderstood is Bound for Nowhere, winner of the 5 1/2-furlong Shakertown in April at Keeneland. Bound for Nowhere’s trainer Wesley Ward also has entered Master Merion in the Tourist, and said this week he is leaning toward running just one of them, with Bound for Nowhere more likely to stay in.
“He’s trained right along at Keeneland since coming back from England,” said Ward, referring to a third-place finish in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot in his last start in June. “Obviously distance is the question, but he’s shown me he may want more ground and we’re willing to give the mile a try.”
Among the other contenders are Mr Cub, a handy sort with a 3-for-3 record going a mile, and Krampus, unraced since winning an allowance on closing weekend of the Churchill spring meet.
Mr Cub was soundly defeated in the Lure Stakes three Saturdays ago over a soggy turf at Saratoga.
“That’s kind of a throw-out race,” said jockey Chris Landeros. “We didn’t anticipate it would rain that bad. It poured all day, and soft going, we weren’t quite sure how he’d handle it. He never gave me a feel that he cared for it much. He kind of took care of himself and went around there.”
The Tourist Mile, known previously as the More Than Ready Mile, goes as the eighth of 10 races, with post time set for 5:26 p.m. Central. The purse includes $350,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, with all but longshot Great Wide Open, an Irish-bred, eligible for bonuses.
On Leave heads big field
Geroux also has the mount on the favorite in On Leave in the $250,000 One Dreamer (race 7, post 4:52), which directly precedes the Tourist Mile and kicks off the late pick four.
In from New York for trainer Shug McGaughey, On Leave will be adding blinkers when he breaks from post 11 in an oversubscribed field of fillies and mares that have not won a stakes in 2018. The 5-year-old gray mare is the obvious class of the field after having been competitive in such major divisional races as the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile and Grade 1 Just a Game this year.
Other contenders in this mile and 70-yard race include Prado’s Sweet Ride, an Illinois-bred whose trainer, Chris Block, has five stakes wins at Kentucky Downs; Celestial Insight, beaten just a neck in the Mint Julep at Churchill in June for Graham Motion; and Gianna’s Dream, whose trainer, Mike Maker, enters this meet as the all-time leader in track history in wins (42) and starts (209).
In all, 13 are entered in the One Dream, with Red Dane the lone also-eligible. Nine of the 12 main-body starters are eligible for the $150,000 KTDF bonuses included in the purse.
The pick four, which spans races 7-10, has a takeout of just 14 percent.
