Lucayan rallies to earn first U.S. victory in Hollywood
Turf Cup
Pandora Stud LLC’s Lucayan earned his first victory in the United States in
memorable fashion on Saturday, collaring Temeraine in the shadow of the wire to
take the last running of the Grade 2, $250,250
Hollywood Turf Cup at its namesake track, which is scheduled to be torn down
following the December 22 closing day of the autumn meet.
Jockey Joel Rosario settled Lucayan in the rear of the six-horse field as
Segway led the way in the 1 1/2-mile turf contest through splits of :25 3/5,
:50, 1:14 1/5 and 1:38 2/5. Temeraine was tracking in second just to the
pacesetter’s outside while Artic North kept in close attendance behind and on
the rail.
Artic North tried his best, but couldn’t keep pace as Temeraine ranged up to
race in tandem with Segway rounding the final turn before taking over in the
lane. Lucayan was still biding his time and unleashed his late run in midstretch.
The four-year-old son of Turtle Bowl just got up to take the win by a
half-length over Temeraine while stopping the clock in 2:26 over the firm
Hollywood Park turf.
“He was traveling well, but I had to keep after him,” Rosario said. “He is
one-paced and can get a little lazy, but I knew that if I kept after him we
would eventually catch (Temeraine) and we got it done.”
Sent off the 8-5 second choice, Lucayan paid $5.40 for his first stateside
score. Temeraine was best of the rest as the 7-5 favorite, 2 1/4 lengths clear
of Segway, who in turn had 2 1/2 lengths to spare over fourth-placer Irish Surf.
Artic North and Huntsville completed the order of finish.
“The pace kind of killed
us,” stated Temeraine’s rider, Gary Stevens. “We did all the dirty work, but it wasn’t
enough dirty work. Joel was able to sit back there and outkick us.”
“He was just really green,” Mike Smith said of Segway. “First
time out here and he was getting out really bad. He was looking at everything in
the infield, but that’s the way it goes.”
Lucayan made his way to the United States from France, where he was saddled
by Francois Rohaut. The bay four-year-old upset last year’s French Two Thousand
Guineas but was unable to hit the board in his three subsequent starts before
shipping stateside.
He joined trainer Neil Drysdale’s barn and finished second in the American
Handicap in his U.S. debut on May 25. Lucayan just missed by a half-length when
runner-up in the Del Mar Handicap in late August and was third in the John Henry
Turf Championship at Santa Anita on September 29 prior to an unplaced effort at
Woodbine in the October 27 Canadian International last out.
“The key to this guy is
getting him to relax and (Rosario) did a lovely job of relaxing him,” Drysdale
explained. “He’s had an
unlucky year. At Del Mar he tried to come
up the middle and got stopped. In the John Henry he also got stuck. And then in Canada, it was just a bog and he couldn’t handle it.
“We felt that it was just too fast for him in this country to go a mile and he
really needed nine or 10 (furlongs). But there weren’t any races at those
distances, which kind of pushed us into running him longer. My heart was going a
little boom, boom, boom because they were going so slow, but this horse is
talented.”
Now boasting a 4-4-2 career mark from 15 starts, Lucayan has banked $659,913
in lifetime earnings.
Bred in France by Jean Pierre Colombu, Lucayan brought
€17,000 as an Arqana December weanling before
selling for €85,000 as an Arqana May two-year-old. He is out of the winning
Grand Lodge mare La Vltava and counts as a half-brother Karluv Most,
Spain’s champion stayer of 2010. His dam is herself a half-sibling to Yepes,
Spain’s champion miler and three-year-old colt of 2008.
Lucayan’s fourth dam is Pasadoble, from whom is descended such world class
stars as Miesque, Six Perfections, East of the Moon and Kingmambo.
Multiple French, English and American champion Miesque regularly beat the
boys while taking such races at the Breeders’ Cup Mile (twice). European
champion and French highweight mare Six Perfections continued the family
tradition by capturing the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Mile, and East of the Moon herself
found fame with victory in both the French One Thousand Guineas and French Oaks
in 1994. Leading sire Kingmambo scored in the French Two Thousand Guineas and
St. James Palace during Royal Ascot in 1993 before finding fame in the breeding
shed as well.
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