Tiffany takes it to the boys in Turf Cup score
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FRANKLIN, Ky. – Tiffany got a perfect pocket trip under Luke Morris and led an English sweep of the top three placings in the Grade 2 Turf Cup on Saturday at Kentucky Downs.
Tiffany, considerably superior to her eight rivals, surged to the lead inside pacesetting Layabout with a little less than a quarter-mile to run and comfortably held clear a midstretch challenge from Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Ethical Diamond, beating him by 1 1/4 lengths. Fort George closed from last of nine into what seemed to be a moderate pace to nab third, as favored Burnham Square, the leading American hope, ran the worst race of his turf career, fading to seventh as the 3-2 favorite.
Morris has ridden Tiffany in 18 of her 19 starts and won his first North American race in his sixth try. Also winning for the first time in North America was the immensely respected and incredibly successful trainer Sir Mark Prescott, who had only run four other horses on the continent, the most recent in 2017.
They landed a rich prize, taking home the $582,000 winner’s share of a $1.095 million purse, as Tiffany, bred in Ireland, was not eligible for $1 million in supplemental purse money reserved for Kentucky-breds.
The Turf Cup is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, and connections seem intent on accepting fees-paid automatic entry into the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
Tiffany, a 6-year-old mare by Farrh out of Affinity, by Sadlers Wells, campaigns as a homebred for the Elite Racing 004. She belatedly won her first Group 1 last month in Germany, which gave Prescott the latitude to make a long, hot trip from Newmarket to Franklin, Ky.
“She’s kind of been a bridesmaid the last 18 months,” Morris said. “She came into this race in as good a shape as we’ve had her, and it’s just fantastic to travel a horse this far and have success.”
Tiffany has shipped seven times to Germany and once to France, a professional shipper who takes everything in stride. She runs on any type of ground, handles various track conditions, and clearly can take the heat. It was nearly 100 degrees Saturday at Kentucky Downs. Morris said he’d never ridden in conditions as demanding.
Morris took advantage of his rail draw and secured a position along the fence, the first horse behind clear leader Layabout, who held an advantage of two or three lengths around the sharp first turn and down onto the undulating backstretch in this 1 1/2-mile contest. No one had any interest in taking Layabout on, and two thirds of the way around the far turn, Layabout started coming back to the field – too quickly, in fact, for Morris, who had to steady his mount when unable to squeeze between Layabout and Dresden Row at about the five-sixteenths marker.
Morris was fortunate that Layabout drifted off the fence and Dresden Row failed to hold his position: Instead of getting trapped, he was able to steer left, hit a gap between Layabout and the rail, and burst to the lead.
Ethical Diamond, the 2-1 second choice, had to some extent shadowed Tiffany under Ryan Moore, who was not able to stay close enough to the mare to follow in her slipstream. With Morris hitting the gas, Moore asked for run and took Ethical Diamond to the outside, where he put in a bid that was not good enough to threaten the winner but got him home 1 3/4 lengths clear of third-place Fort George.
“Once she got a split on the inside, I won quite comfortably,” Morris said. “She’s a very smart mare and she means a lot to everyone in our segment of Newmarket.”
Tiffany paid a very generous $39.95 per $5 base win wager and clocked 2:26.37 over a very firm course, the temporary rail set at 25 feet.
Ethical Diamond has the BC Turf as a fall target, too, but it may be back to the drawing board for Burnham Square, who had a four-race winning streak snapped.
“He spurted for about an eighth of a mile, but by the time we hit the quarter pole in the straight, he was kind of done for,” said Brian Hernandez, who rode the gelding for trainer Ian Wilkes. “I told Ian that I thought the heat got to him because he wasn’t sweating a whole lot when we came back.”
Burnham Square finished one place ahead of Ole Crazy Bone, who won this race last year but backed out of contention Saturday with more than five furlongs left to race.
Tiffany, now 9 for 19 in a carefully crafted career, is bound for auction later this fall, but first it is back home to England, then back to Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
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