WinStar to award seasons in Kentucky Cup Distaff

Each of the first three finishers in the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Distaff (G3) on the WinStar Kentucky Cup Day of Champions at Turfway Park will be awarded a complimentary season to a WinStar Farm stallion in addition to purse earnings, it was announced Thursday. The stallions with a 2012 season to be given away are 2010 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Super Saver, 2008 Travers S. (G1) and Santa Anita Derby (G1) hero Colonel John, and Grade 2 victor Hold Me Back. The Kentucky Cup Distaff will send distaffers 1 1/16 miles over Turfway’s Polytrack on September 24, with nominations closing September 15.

“This concept is a throwback to the old days when Atlantic City used
to run the Matchmaker,” said Elliott Walden, president and CEO of
WinStar. “With these three exciting young stallions, we see this as an
opportunity for an owner to get their mare off on the right foot.”

The winning owner of the Kentucky Cup Distaff will select first from the
three free seasons. The owner of the second-place finisher will select next, and
the owner of the third-place finisher will receive the remaining season.

Super Saver stood his first season in 2011 having earned nearly $1.9 million
at the track. He rose to prominence as a two-year-old, winning the Kentucky
Jockey Club (G2) in stakes-record time. After finishing second by a neck in the
Arkansas Derby (G1), Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby over a field that
included 11 Grade 1 winners.

Colonel John, the leading earner at stud by champion sire Tiznow, banked
nearly $1.8 million while performing at the highest level. He emerged at two by
setting a stakes record in the Real Quiet S. at Hollywood Park before going on
to win the Travers and Santa Anita Derby at three. Colonel John’s first foals
arrived in 2011.

Hold Me Back accumulated $872,610 in three years of racing, including winning
Turfway’s biggest three-year-old race in 2009, the Lane’s End S. (G2). He was
also second in both the Travers and Blue Grass S. (G1) before entering the
winner’s circle again in Woodbine’s Dominion Day H. (Can-G3) at four. Like Super
Saver, Hold Me Back also entered stud this year.

Among winners of the Kentucky Cup Distaff (G3) since the race was
incorporated into the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions in 1994 are 1995 Eclipse
Award honoree Golden Attraction; multiple Grade 1 queen and $3.5 million earner
Spain; 1994 Sovereign Award winner Pennyhill Park; Trip, who scored in
back-to-back renewals in 2001 and 2002; and 2008 Sovereign Award winner Bear
Now.