Trainer Lobo scores repeat victory in Keeneland Turf Mile with In Love; last year's winner Ivar fourth
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Paulo Lobo loves it in Kentucky, and why wouldn’t he? The Brazil native has produced his finest work as a Thoroughbred trainer in the Bluegrass State, with the latest being a 12-1 upset Saturday in the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile with a 5-year-old gelding named In Love.
Known for years for upsetting the 2002 Kentucky Oaks with Farda Amiga not long after he moved to the U.S. from his native Brazil, Lobo won the richest race of the Keeneland fall meet for the second straight year when In Love drove clear in the final furlong to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths in the $750,000 Keeneland Turf Mile, a Win and You’re In event toward the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.
“I think we are going to have three horses in the Breeders’ Cup,” said a jubilant Lobo.
Lobo, 52, also was referring to Ivar, who won this race last year and could also go to the $2 million BC Mile after finishing a good fourth Saturday, and Imperador, a last-out winner of the Kentucky Turf Cup, aiming for the BC Turf after capturing the signature race of the Kentucky Downs meet last month.
Giving French native Alex Achard easily his biggest win since he began riding in the U.S. in Feb. 2019, In Love settled in mid-pack while saving ground on both turns of the 36th Keeneland Mile before angling out with a torrid run. Owned by Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R D I, In Love returned $26.60 after finishing in 1:34.84 over a course rated good. He earned a career-high 103 Beyer Speed Figure.
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Tell Your Daddy, a 29-1 shot in off a win in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch at Saratoga, was second by a half-length over Somelikeithotbrown, with Ivar another head back in fourth and Space Traveller another neck back in fifth in a crowded scramble for the placings.
Order of Australia, the 6-5 favorite making his first start in the U.S. after winning the BC Mile here last year at 73-1, faded badly to finish last of 12.
For the 30-year-old Achard, who expressed his excitement with several waves of the arm after crossing under the wire, the victory was the culmination of laboring amid minimal fanfare since migrating to this country.
“It feels great,” said Achard, whose four prior U.S. stakes wins included one graded event, the Grade 3 Chicago at Arlington in June. “I love Keeneland. It couldn’t be any better.”
Under cloud cover and pleasant conditions, 59-1 shot Brown Storm set the pace before being challenged by Diamond Oops leaving the half-mile pole – and then here they all came. As the field wheeled past the quarter pole, Achard deftly eased In Love out several paths into an open lane, and the gelding did the rest from there. It was the third win, and first in a graded race, for In Love in eight U.S. starts since being sent here from Argentina. He was coming off a victory in the restricted TVG Stakes last month at Kentucky Downs.
“The horse is improving,” said Lobo, who has been based primarily at the nearby Thoroughbred training center since moving his stable from California in the spring of 2019. “At Kentucky Downs, horses get fit there. Also, he loves it at Keeneland,” alluding to how In Love won an allowance on the turf here last year.
Lobo also said he was pleased with how Ivar ran Saturday following a layoff of more than five months and that he hoped the gelding will make the 14-horse cutoff for the BC Mile. It wasn’t the smoothest of trips for Ivar and jockey Joe Talamo, who unsuccessfully filed a post-race objection against Tell Your Daddy for deep-stretch interference.
With long prices dominating, the $2 exacta (3-5) paid $723.40, the $1 trifecta (3-5-13) returned $3,462.30, and the 10-cent superfecta (3-5-13-6) was worth $2,352.59.
The Keeneland Turf Mile, formerly the Shadwell Mile, was the last of five straight graded stakes Saturday and the final leg in the new Keeneland Turf Pick 3 (races 6-8-10) that returned $837.60 for the $3 minimum following handle of $225,524.
FallStars Weekend ends Sunday
The last three FallStars Weekend stakes are set for Sunday – the Indian Summer (race 8), Spinster (race 9), and Bourbon (race 10). Letruska, the current leader of the filly-mare dirt division, will be heavily favored with Irad Ortiz Jr. riding when she faces six other fillies and mares in the Grade 1 Spinster.