Top-flight European shippers make for tantalizing Kentucky Turf Cup
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The last good European horse to try the $2 million Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs was . . . nobody.
Forget about good – not a single overseas raider has shipped in during the modern era of the Turf Cup, which, despite being a Grade 2, now is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series. But three Europeans have showed up for Saturday’s 1 1/2-mile contest, and this is no ragtag bunch.
Ethical Diamond, who shipped from Ireland, won the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar last fall.
The England-based mare Tiffany on Aug. 9 notched an overdue first Group 1 victory when she landed the Grosser Preis von Berlin, a race won in recent years by two-time BC Turf hero Rebel’s Romance and by Arc heroine Alpinista.
Fort George, trained by England-based Ed Walker, missed by a nose making his North American debut July 11 at Saratoga in the Bowling Green Stakes. Walker scratched Fort George from the Christophe Clement on Aug. 15, when the Saratoga turf course came up wet, and Fort George will almost certainly find the sort of going Walker wants on Saturday.
Hopefully, he can take the heat, too. Kentucky Downs canceled four of 11 scheduled races Thursday and moved post time to late morning because of a forecast high of 97 degrees. The mercury could reach 98 on Saturday, with a slim chance of showers. Barring rain, the course will be extra firm and fast.
Ten went into the Turf Cup, comprised of one lap plus about 330 yards around this European-style course.
Desvio, Eff Thirty Five, and Echo Lane look strictly overmatched. Layabout and Dresden Row possess a puncher’s chance. Ole Crazy Bone beat Fort George in the Bowling Green and won last year’s Turf Cup by almost four lengths, but he’s 8-1 on the morning line.
The line makes Burnham Square, North America’s leading mile-and-a-half turfer, a 2-1 favorite, but Ethical Diamond stands a decent chance of taking up that role, particularly with Ryan Moore getting the mount.
Willie Mullins, a famed jumps trainer, ran Ethical Diamond seven times over hurdles before switching to the flat last summer. Ethical Diamond hit a high note beating 21 rivals in the Ebor at York, Europe’s richest handicap. A 27-1 shot stuck in post 14 at Del Mar, Ethical Diamond flew home to deny Rebel’s Romance a third BC Turf win.
Mullins said the Turf Cup and the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland have stood at the heart of Ethical Diamond’s campaign this year. Mullins put a tepid fifth-place finish in the Sheema Classic in Dubai down to a slow pace and lack of position. A tame ninth in the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot, Ethical Diamond looked more like his best self Aug. 6 winning a Group 3 over 1 1/2 miles at Leopardstown, carrying 135 pounds while getting home by a nose over the modest stakes performer Green Impact.
“I think he’s coming right at the right time,” Mullins said Wednesday. “We’re happy with how he’s traveled, and he’s training very well at Churchill Downs.”
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None of Ethical Diamond’s top races have come over racecourses similar to Kentucky Downs. Mullins doesn’t care.
“I think he’s very adaptable – the track doesn’t concern me,” Mullins said. “I thought the track would be an asset for him.”
Ethical Diamond needs pace help. The 6-year-old mare Tiffany does not. She races forwardly, stays 1 1/2 miles, and, like Ethical Diamond appears to be coming right at the right time. Haven’t heard much of Tiffany? That’s because she missed nearly all of 2025 and didn’t make this year’s races until June.
Trained by Mark Prescott, Tiffany finished second in three German Group 1s earlier in her career before breaking through last month. Her baseline puts her squarely in the mix, and Tiffany, who has shipped to Germany seven times and to England once, traveled well to Kentucky, Prescott reported. Regular jockey Luke Morris has just his fifth North American ride.
Fort George wintered in Dubai. His European form hits a lower mark than Ethical Diamond and Tiffany, but he’s not without a chance under Jamie Spencer, 17-1-1-3 at Kentucky Downs.
Burnham Square has won four in a row and became a Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf when he captured the Arlington Million on Aug. 1. Trainer Ian Wilkes has pointed the gelding toward this race since Burnham Square missed by a head in the Nashville Derby last season.
“He’s a horse that gives you confidence. He’s an extremely happy horse. We’re on our game,” Wilkes said.
Nonetheless, Burnham Square in three tries has yet to run back to his massive April 18 showing in the Elkhorn at Keeneland. Wilkes said not to make much of a change in Burnham Square’s recent work pattern at the Skylight training center.
“He went a minute and four the other day, galloped out in 1:13,” Wilkes said.
Mike Maker has trained a record six Turf Cup winners, and if he ultimately controlled when and where the horse ran, Ole Crazy Bone would have gone straight from the Bowling Green to the Turf Cup. Instead, he finished a fading sixth Aug. 16 over a yielding course that Maker said Ole Crazy Bone couldn’t handle. A short three-week turnaround shouldn’t get Ole Crazy Bone beat.
“He carries good weight, never misses an oat,” Maker said.
What might get him beat: better horses from overseas.
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