Sir Truebadour all the way in Bashford Manor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although trainer Steve Asmussen missed out on watching Midnight Bisou win the Mother Goose Stakes in person Saturday at Belmont Park, he didn’t miss out on stakes-winning celebrations altogether. With assistant Scott Blasi sent to New York to oversee Midnight Bisou, Asmussen remained at Churchill Downs for closing day on Saturday and got a firsthand look at a front-running, two-length victory from Sir Truebadour in the Grade 3, $100,000 Bashford Manor.

In winning the Bashford Manor, the first graded stakes race for 2-year-olds this year, Sir Truebadour illustrated the ability to throw down fast fractions and last. He lasted in slow time, however.

Weakened from setting fractions of 21.35 seconds and 45.63 in the six-furlong race under Ricardo Santana Jr., Sir Truebadour was a tired horse in the stretch, especially in the final furlong. He covered his final eighth of a mile in 14.33 seconds, stopping the clock in 1:12.77.

“Thank God he held on,” said Asmussen.

The win gave him his fifth victory in the Bashford Manor, all since 2004. The spring meet’s leading trainer for a record-extending 19th time with 30 wins, he previously won the race with Lunarpal (2004), Kodiak Kowboy (2007), Kantharos (2010), and Cinco Charlie (2014).

The win seemed to hold significance for Asmussen given Sir Truebadour’s pedigree. A More Than Ready colt out of the King of Kings mare Kivi, he is a full brother to Regally Ready, a millionaire whom Asmussen trained to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2011.

“Can’t really say enough about what Regally did for us,” he said.

Purchased for $300,000 at the Fasig-Tipton sale last summer at Saratoga, Sir Truebadour has won two of three starts and $93,360 for Carrol Castille’s Whispering Oaks Farm. He paid $5 as the public choice.

Longshots lit up the toteboard behind the winner, with Mr Chocolate Chip in second at 103-1, Overanalyzer third at 99-1, and Cat Addition, another Asmusen trainee, running fourth at 16-1. The race’s second and third favorites, Shanghaied Roo and Toothless Wonder, ran eighth and 10th.

C Z Rocket wins Kelly’s Landing

One race before the Bashford Manor, C Z Rocket recorded his first stakes victory, taking the $68,130 Kelly’s Landing by four lengths.

Breaking smartly from his outside post, he rated in third early behind moderate splits of 22.86 and 45.83. He then advanced three wide under confident handling from Shaun Bridgmohan, and then, once let loose in the stretch, demonstrated his superiority.

Runner-up Storm Advisory and third-place Warrior’s Club kicked on but proved no match for the strong-finishing winner, who covered his final furlong in 11.93 seconds on his way to racing seven furlongs in 1:21.51.

Al Stall Jr. trains C Z Rocket ($6.60), a 4-year-old colt by City Zip, for Frank Fletcher Racing Operations.

Absent from the Kelly’s Landing was morning-line favorite Chief Cicatriz, the winner of the Grade 3 Aristides earlier in the meet, who was scratched due to a bruised foot.