IROQUOIS Favored Tight Ten didn’t have a great excuse in the Iroquois for getting run down by 17-1 shot Cairo Cat, though he did finish more than three lengths clear of third-place Pole Setter, while Cairo Cat, through his own encouraging doing, did get a great trip. Tight Ten and Ricardo Santana bumped mildly with My Sixth Sense just to his outside at the start but still got up to make the lead in the first furlong. The tempo was moderate on a track producing average times throughout the card: fractions of 24.03, 48.74, 1:14.06, 1:38.94 on the way to what would be a final time of 1:45.35 (which produced a winning Beyer Speed Figure of 80). Tight Ten went along comfortably, his ears pricked, but did take pressure down the backstretch and around the turn from My Sixth Sense, who was nearly lapped on him for close to a quarter-mile. Tight Ten was mildly urged past the three-furlong pole to maintain his advantage, then put to a drive at the quarter-pole as he left My Sixth Sense behind. Manny Wah between horses and Pole Setter on the outside took a run at him, but Tight Ten shrugged those horses off and was clear at the furlong pole. That’s where his troubles began, as Tight Ten switched his leads several times in the last eighth-mile as his head carriage got a little sloppy. Whether this was through greenness, fatigue, or a struggle to fully get his wind I can’t definitely say from the outside, but the colt did leave himself vulnerable to defeat – and was defeated. He’s by Tapit and out of Devils Humor, and while Devils Humor’s dam, Fleet Renee, was a route horse, Devils Rumor was a sprinter, and perhaps Tight Ten just doesn’t want more than a mile. As for Cairo Cat, he had upside in this race having debuted in a turf route at Saratoga, just kind of running idly around the oval and finishing eighth, then winning an off-turf seven-furlong dirt maiden there Aug. 11. So the Iroquois was his first two-turn dirt race and first start with Lasix, and Cairo Cat definitely improved while getting an excellent ride from Brian Hernandez Jr. Cairo Cat broke moderately and was caught several paths wide into the first turn before Hernandez, making a decisive move, dove down to the fence before he and his mount were half-way round the bend. Down the backstretch the rail was open, and Hernandez had a mount with gears to take advantage. Cairo Prince, showing nice acceleration followed by encouraging responsiveness to his rider, moved smoothly up into a great position just in behind Tight Ten. There he stayed, just holding his spot, waiting, until the furlong pole, and just as Hernandez steered out, Tight Ten drifted in, allowing clear passage on the outside. Cairo Cat didn’t fly home, but he took the measure of the favorite and finished this off nicely enough. A good performance, overall, and while the very favorable trip definitely helped, you have to give the horse some credit for helping make it happen. Third-place Pole Setter ran better than the number of lengths be was beaten by the winner. Three to four paths wide on the first turn, he was three to four paths wide on the first half of the second turn before making his serious move, while five paths wide still on the turn heading to the quarter-pole. It’s no wonder he lost momentum late after racing so much farther than the winner. Manny Wah’s overall performance wasn’t as strong as Pole Setter’s but he, too, was the victim of ground loss here. POCAHONTAS There’s really just one horse to talk about out of the Pocahontas and that’s Serengeti Empress, who, as they say, went to the lead and increased her advantage. That advantage stood at a crazy 18 1/2 lengths when Serengeti Empress crossed the wire. How do we view this performance? I’d say it was clearly worse than the bare margin of victory but also better than the final time and Beyer Speed Figure assigned. The Beyer came back 78, nothing close to as epic as the win margin, but also not really disputable when you look at the rest of the Churchill card, particularly the Iroquois one race earlier, over the same 1 1/16-mile distance for 2-year-olds won in a time .10 seconds faster than the Pocahontas. Here are the splits for those two races, the Pocahontas in the first column, the Iroquois the second: 23.17 - 24.03 46.94 – 48.74 1:12.20 – 1:14.06 1:38.37 – 1:38.94 1:45.47 – 1:45.35 Give Serengeti Empress credit for setting a far faster pace than the boys in the Iroquois, but the fourth quarter-mile of the two races – 26.17 for Serengeti Empress, 24.88 in the Iroquois – tells you something. While running that slow quarter, Serengeti was opening distance on a group of rivals that, frankly, was dismal: Eventual runner-up Splashy Kisses got a measly 48 Beyer for this race. We have to consider the chance Serengeti Empress, who is trained by Tom Amoss, might have run faster had she been pushed in the homestretch, but that’s not necessarily the case. Moreover, consider that her second half-mile went in a glacial 51.43 and that included a middle section of the race during which Serengeti Empress would reasonably have been running competitively, the outcome not decided. In fact, the fast opening half-mile clearly did take a toll on the winner – understandable given this was a two-turn race for mid-September 2-year-olds. It’s just that there was no one out there to chase her down. WOODBINE MILE This was an absolute parade of a race. Finish 1st Call 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 3 5 6 6 8 7 7 8 5 The opening quarter-mile on a fast-playing turf course was officially recorded as 24.60. Craig Milkowski of TimeformUS believes it might have been .35 to .40 seconds faster than that, but even if that’s correct, Oscar Performance still was walking the dog out on the lead. And boy did he make the most of that tactical advantage. After a half-mile recorded in a glacial 48.78 seconds, Oscar Performance began sprinting and never let up until he had won the Woodbine Mile. The third quarter-mile was timed in 22.71 seconds, the last quarter in a blistering 21.63. As the announcer Trevor Denman likes to say, “They’d have to sprout wings to catch him!” But in this case, even wings might not have done the job. All credit to Oscar Performance, who was pulled up late in the Arlington Million after jockey Jose Ortiz felt him take a couple funny steps. Oscar Performance cooled out fine after the race and a precautionary exam at a Kentucky clinic revealed nothing amiss, so Oscar went right back into training. The 4-year-old was contesting the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic over 1 1/2 miles about this time last year, but now he is looking much more like a brilliant miler. The ability to settle and finish with such speed is a huge asset, and Oscar Performance is by no means dependent on leading at this trip. Mr. Havercamp, the locally based runner-up, basically just followed the winner around the course. Give him credit for holding second through those scorching final splits, but he was lucky to hold over a closing Stormy Antarctic, an overseas shipper who ran well enough in defeat. Fourth-place Delta Prince, the favorite, was the race’s disappointment. He lacked the acceleration of the first- and third-place horses after sitting a lovely pocket trip and probably was exposed here as something below top class, even by North American middle-distance turf standards. Divisidero finished fifth, able to pass only the fading 94-1 shot Vanish in the final half, albeit while coming home under what most circumstances would be a dazzling final half. Here, it was not enough. Lord Glitters, a half-length behind Divisidero, finished faster than anyone in the race and ought to be playable in his next start since his performance was far better than a typical sixth-place finish. Think Lord Glitters has more positional pace than he was allowed to show today and racing from last through that slow half-mile was not a strategically wise move at all. Don’t underrate his showing here. Good Samaritan also outperformed his seventh-place finish but was outrun the final three furlongs by Lord Glitters and unlike that horse just doesn’t have the early gas to avoid situations like this. I thought Good Samaritan looked better on turf here than he has on dirt in his previous 2018 starts but he’s just a horse with limited upside at this point. NATALMA STAKES The Natalma, for 2-year-old fillies over a one-turn mile on firm, quick turf, was fast early, slow late, with no real hard-luck stories despite a 13-horse field and a lot of position changes. Final time of 1:33.70 came back .20 faster than the Summer Stakes two races later according to Equibase charts, but Trakus had it the other way around: The Summer in 1:34.04, the Natalma in 1:34.23. Jockey Jamie Spencer, who had Lord Glitters too far back Saturday in the Woodbine Mile, gave victorious La Pelosa a fine ride here. Spencer, despite breaking from post 11, saved ground into and around the wide, sweeping turn as 30-1 shot Eyeinthesky and 5-1 Artilena went 22.98 for the quarter and 45.36 to the half. Past the three-furlong pole Spencer left the rail to begin picking off tiring horses, found clear running between rivals the two times he needed it, and had reached the lead at the furlong grounds. The final quarter-mile went in 24.62 and with no one really blazing the last part, La Pelosa had no trouble sustaining her move as she went on to a one-length victory. In second was My Gal Betty, who raced midpack and provided La Pelosa a target for the first part of L P’s run before Betty peeled farther outside and La Pelosa went between. The six-furlong Catch A Glimpse Stakes winner over the course ran just fine trying a middle distance for the first time and finishing a full two lengths clear of third. Filling out the trifecta was 33-1 shot Bold Script, who improved off her showing in the Catch a Glimpse while unable to match the top two for late pace. Fourth-place Pivottina was 12th of 13 down the backstretch and well behind the winner into the turn, and her lack of a first move to get position proved her undoing, though she did turn in the fastest final quarter-mile in the field, 24.13, and was 11.82 from the three-quarters to the seven-eighths, according to Trakus. The official chart says Pivottina “lost her path” early in the race but that overstates the situation. Bold Script just broke outward in front of Pivottina, who was going to the back anyway. Fifth-place Stillwater Cove, beaten a neck for fourth and four lengths clear of sixth, might not have stayed the mile all that well, but she gets extra credit as easily the best-finishing pace player. Artilena, who had a big figure for an off-turf seven-furlong Tapeta maiden win, didn’t stay at all and checked in a distant last. Charlie Appleby trains the winner for Godolphin in England. It will be no surprise to see her back for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, where she might well be a prime contender. SUMMER STAKES As noted in the Natalma Stakes review, there were timing discrepancies between the official timers for Woodbine and Trakus: The former had the Natalma as the faster race, the latter the Summer as faster. They came home better in the Summer, however, and my feeling is that was the stronger of the two heats. I’m high on Fog of War after his win here. On the one hand, Fog of War worked out basically a perfect trip, but on the other he was still green at various points in his second career start and proved more superior on the day than the bare three-quarter-length margin of victory. Trained by Chad Brown, Fog of War, who has an excellent pedigree, was stretching out to a mile off a Saratoga turf-sprint maiden win, and while jockey Javier Castellano didn’t send him to the lead, he allowed Fog of War to run out of the gate, eventually sitting fourth in the pocket behind pacesetting Wallace. Fog of War was a little slow to come all the way back to his jockey, but did mainly relax and was given a patient trip around the far turn as Wallace dashed clear. Hugging the rail into the stretch, Fog of War was cropped once right-handed at the quarter-pole as Castellano attempted to make a move, but initially there was no room between eventual runner-up War of Will and Tricky Magician. Castellano hand-rode his mount to keep position until Tricky Magician faded off the scene, cropped Fog of War twice right-handed, and went to the outside of War of Will, who had inherited the lead. Fog of War was hand-ridden from that point to the finish, comfortably taking the measure of War of Will despite a late, unnecessary lead change and a little raggedness in his stride. He went under the wire willingly and out well and looks very promising for owner Peter Brant. War of Will did work out a perfect trip stalking Wallace from second, but he also was making just his second career start while racing on Lasix for the first time. He stayed on well and had two lengths on third-place Nashtrick, who had beaten him in a maiden race, and while lacking the potential of Fog of War appears useful right now. Nashtrick got a clear, stalking trip and was fine, not improving too much from his easy debut win over seven furlongs last out. More notable was the performance from his Josie Carroll-trained stablemate, fourth-place Avie’s Flatter. Racing a mile on turf after only a five-furlong all-weather-track debut win Aug. 12, Avie’s Flatter started off the Summer by getting pinched back to last after breaking from post 2. He moved up into better position around the turn and peeled out very wide at the quarter-pole to make a strong run that carried him right up to the lead at the furlong grounds before he ran out of steam and faded back to fourth. The colt had a right to get tired given his race history and trip and could be playable next time out depending where he shows up.