Walsh is hot but Arnold can cool him off with Kilwin in Twin Bridges
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The winning began on the first day of racing at this Ellis Park meeting. Trainer Brendan Walsh ran three horses on July 2, swept the exacta with the first two of them, and won a second race with his third runner. Only one of Walsh’s next seven Ellis starters won, but his stable went 4 for 4 on July 9, starting a string of seven winners in 10 races, and Walsh comes into week three of the Ellis meet the runaway leading trainer, 10 wins from 19 starters.
But standing between Walsh and more winning Sunday at Ellis in the Twin Bridges Stakes is a horse fittingly named Kilwin. Walsh sends out the capable One Magic Philly in the $175,000 Twin Bridges, a 6 1/2-furlong dirt contest for older fillies and mares, but Kilwin is more than merely capable.
A very good turf filly, Kilwin switched to dirt last summer, ran lights-out landing the Leslie’s Lady at Churchill Downs, then captured the Grade 1 Test despite stumbling badly at the start. Kilwin ran back from the Test favored in the $2 million Music City at Kentucky Downs – but hardly ran at all. She checked in an uncompetitive eighth and hasn’t started since.
“She came out of it funny behind,” said Rusty Arnold, who trains Kilwin for BBN Racing and Rick Howard. “We were going to try and go on with her, but we didn’t like the way she was going and we sent her home.”
In March, Kilwin logged three workouts in Florida before Arnold had to pause again owing to the same issue; something nagging the filly in her hind end. Arnold goes back to the stumbling Test start and wonders if Kilwin’s troubles began there, but whatever the source, the issue appears to be behind her.
“We’ve regrouped and she hasn’t missed a beat,” Arnold said.
That includes a one-week gap in published workouts earlier this month. Kilwin actually did breeze July 8 at Keeneland, but a thick blanket of fog descended just before she worked, and neither track clockers nor Arnold could catch her drill.
“I have no idea what the time was, but the rider thought she went well,” Arnold said.
Earlier breezes show up on public workout video and reveal a very willing but rateable filly traveling sweetly while breezing inside a workmate at Keeneland. Kilwin comes into the Twin Bridges sharp and should stalk the pace under Edgar Morales.
“She’s been a good work horse her entire career, and we liked this filly going into her first race,” Arnold said. “I look for a scenario more like the Leslie’s Lady, where she’s fourth or fifth and not out the back door.”
Arnold confirmed earlier Daily Racing Form reporting that Echo Sound will be scratched to run Saturday at Monmouth Park.
One Magic Philly can contend – at least with a major recency edge on Kilwin – if she bounces back from a subpar fourth May 27 in the Winning Colors at Churchill. Just after the start of that contest, Kapoor crossed behind One Magic Philly and clipped some part of her back leg or legs, which conceivably compromised her performance.
The morning line sets Cash Call as the 3-1 favorite despite the fact Kilwin beat her seven lengths in the Test. Cash Call got a perfect trip beating five foes last month in a Churchill third-level sprint allowance that might not have been as strong as the speed figures it produced.
Asternia won this race last year but probably serves as little more than a pace player Sunday. Evanescense holds greater appeal and has maintained strong and quietly improving form throughout this season, though the filly has continually made her task more difficult with poor starts that leave her too far behind the pace.
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