Fort Larned takes care of business in Homecoming Classic

Fort Larned got a perfect BC Classic tune-up when winning the Homecoming Classic at Churchill (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Janis R. Whitham’s homebred Fort Larned tuned up for his Breeders’ Cup Classic title defense with a comfortable victory in Saturday’s $191,275 Homecoming Classic at Churchill Downs, leading wire to wire for a 1 1/2-length decision. The Ian Wilkes-trained horse paid $2.60 to win as the 1-5 favorite among six rivals. With regular rider Brian Hernandez, Fort Larned got off to a slow start when bumping the side of the gate but quickly recovered to show the way into the first turn, completing the opening quarter-mile in :23 2/5 with a 2 1/2-length advantage. He continued to increase his margin while recording splits in :47 and 1:10 2/5, and the five-year-old turned for home up by more than five lengths. The lead dwindled late as Fort Larned completed the 1 1/8-mile distance in 1:48 2/5 on the fast track, but the outcome was never in doubt. “We got the performance we needed out of him,” Hernandez said. “He went around there and did his job and galloped out really good.”

“I think this race is going to help us a lot,” Wilkes said. “You see he got a
little tired at the end and we needed this race. I missed the last race in the
Woodward (on August 31) and I needed this race today to get to where I want to
be.

“I’m not taking anything away from any of the other horses here, but I wasn’t
100 percent today. I wanted this race to move forward off of.”

Windswept finished up nicely for second, 2 1/4 lengths better than Worldly,
who stalked Fort Larned most of the way in second before losing a spot in the
stretch. It was another four-length gap to Agent Di Nozzo, who was followed by
Prayer for Relief and Pool Play. Golden Ticket was withdrawn.

With the $117,405 payday, Fort Larned increased his earnings to $4,171,322
from a 24-10-2-1 ledger. The son of E Dubai posted his signature win in last
year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, leading wire to wire at Santa Anita, and now owns
a total of seven stakes victories, including Grade 1 tallies in the Stephen
Foster this year and the 2012 Whitney Invitational.

He rebounded Saturday from a disappointing fifth as the favorite in this
year’s Whitney on August 3, and the November 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa
Anita is up next.

“Now we’re ready to go to California,” Hernandez said. “He got a little
tired, but I went ahead and I made him gallop-out pretty good so we can have him
at a 100 percent for the big one.”

The Kentucky-bred comes from a prestigious female family as his granddam is
dual champion Bayakoa, who saw her record as the only two-time winner of the
Breeders’ Cup Distaff tied last year when Royal Delta defended her title in the
Ladies’ Classic.

Bayakoa captured 13 total Grade/Group 1s while racking up more than $2.7
million during her time on track. The mare was inducted into the National Museum
of Racing Hall of Fame in 1998 and is also the granddam of multiple Grade
1-winning millionaire Affluent.

One of Bayakoa’s daughters is Fort Larned’s dam, the Broad Brush mare Arlucea,
who strangely enough has the same exact name as Bayakoa’s dam, the Good Manners
mare Arlucea.

Fort Larned is half-brother to dual Grade 1-placed Izarra as well as stakes
runner-up Moonport.

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