Ramseys reign again at Churchill; dead-heats for trainer,
jockey titles
The second consecutive September Meet at
Churchill Downs
concluded its 12-date run on Sunday with encouraging results and a
string of strong performances by the equine and human stars who competed during
the brief racing session.
Performances on the track include
victories and strong efforts by two-year-olds whose connections are dreaming of
next spring’s Kentucky Derby and
Kentucky Oaks, along with veteran stars taking aim at big races in the fall
and, for some, possible trips to California for the
Breeders’ Cup Championships.
All of the meet’s races involving contests for leading jockey, trainer and owner
had dramatic finishes and were not decided until the final races on Sunday’s
closing day.
The second year of a new racing product at the home of the Kentucky Derby
offered Kentucky horsemen both attractive racing options for their horses on
dirt and turf and a daily purse structure that was comparable to the 2013 debut
of the track’s September Meet. The meet, which was only the second Churchill
Downs racing meet since 1890 to be conducted entirely in the month of September,
benefitted from ideal early autumn weather. The main track was rated fast on
each of the meet’s 12 racing days, and the Matt Winn Turf Course was rated
firm for all but one of those racing sessions.
Churchill Downs paid total purses of $3,864,487 during September’s 12 racing
dates for daily average purses of $322,041. A total of 940 horses competed in
the meet’s 122 races, and the average field for a race during the meet consisted
of 7.7 horses. The average number of horses per race in 2013, also through 122
races, was 8.07.
“We have a pair of September meets behind us and Churchill Downs remains
optimistic that this new racing and entertainment product can be successful,”
Churchill Downs Racetrack President Kevin Flanery said. “We faced many of the
same challenges during this meet that impacted our Spring Meet, including our
ongoing concerns about field sizes. Unfortunately, the starters per race was
down this year, which is a result of the declining foal crops and increased
competition for available horses from other tracks in our region and beyond.
“The positive news is that the Louisville market is becoming more aware of our
September Meet and the possibilities it holds for Kentucky horsemen during a
beautiful time of year. We look forward to working with the racing commission
and the horsemen to address the issue of field sizes so that we can continue to
provide this promising product.”
One of the strengths of Churchill Downs’ racing in the latter half of any year
is the division of talented and well-bred two-year-olds stabled at the track, and
the opening weekend of the meet cast the spotlight on a pair of juveniles that
scored important stakes victories on their respective roads to the Kentucky
Derby and Kentucky Oaks, and the
major races for two-year-old Thoroughbreds in the Breeders’ Cup Championships at
Santa Anita on Saturday, November 1.
Trainer Steve Asmussen saddled the top two finishers in the $115,500 Iroquois when Jerry Durant’s Lucky Player edged stablemate Bold
Conquest in the 33rd running of the 1 1/16-mile race for two-year-olds, one of
four stakes events run on Saturday, September 6. The victory under Ricardo Santana
Jr. made the son of Lookin at Lucky an early leader in the “Road to the Kentucky
Derby” point standings that will determine the field for the 141st running of
the Kentucky Derby on May 2, 2015.
Along with the
10 points collected for his victory in the opening race in the “Road to the
Kentucky Derby” standings, Lucky Player’s win also earned an automatic spot in
the starting gate for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita
on November 1. For the second consecutive year, the Iroquois was the first race in
the “Breeders’ Cup Win & You’re In Juvenile Division.”
GSN Racing’s Cristina’s Journey provided trainer Dale Romans his third career
victory in the $231,000 Pocahontas for two-year-old fillies on the September 6
program, and her front-running triumph offered added-value to the daughter of
Any Given Saturday similar to that earned by Lucky Player in the Iroquois.
The
Pocahontas was the lead-off event of the “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” points
system that will determine the participants in next spring’s 141st running of
the $1 million Kentucky Oaks and also the first stop on the Breeders’
Cup “Win and You’re In Juvenile Fillies Division.” The win under Miguel
Mena gave Cristina’s Journey 10 points, an early lead on the “Road to the
Kentucky Oaks” and a guaranteed spot in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
Fillies.
Other outstanding September Meet performance were delivered on the meet’s final
weekend when Cigar Street held off the late charge of favored Departing to win
the second running of the $135,500 Homecoming Classic by 1 3/4 lengths and
Canada-based Heart to Heart led from start to finish in the 39th running of the
$110,000 Jefferson Cup for three-year-olds at one mile on turf.
Cigar Street, a five-year-old son of Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense owned
by Jake Ballis and National Basketball Association star Rashard Lewis, improved
his career record to 5-1-0 in only eight races. The winner could be a candidate
for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, but his owners said that decision
would be up to their Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The trainer is the all-time
leader in victories and stakes wins at Churchill Downs, and the win by Cigar
Street was Mott’s 680th beneath the track’s Twin Spires and his 89th stakes
triumph.
Heart to Heart, an Ontario-bred son of English Channel owned by Terry Hamilton,
led from the start under Julien Leparoux and rolled to a four-length win in the
Jefferson Cup. The Jefferson Cup victory was his second consecutive stakes win
and the fifth victory overall for the improving young turf star trained by Bryan
Lynch.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Thank You Marylou, who finished fifth to Untapable in
this year’s Kentucky Oaks, had a happy return to Churchill Downs when
she rolled to a 6 1/2-length victory in the 39th running of the $112,000 Dogwood
for three-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. The daughter of Birdstone is
trained by Mike Maker and was ridden by Mena.
Other strong stakes performances during the September Meet were turned in
by Joseph Sutton’s Bradester, who led from the start under jockey Corey Lanerie to
win the $107,300 Ack Ack Handicap for trainer Eddie Kenneally, and the
six-year-old mare Don’t Tell Sophia, who returned from a six-month layoff to score
an emphatic 2 1/4-length victory for trainer Phil Sims and jockey Joe Rocco Jr. in
the 31st running of the $108,200 Locust Grove. The latter, co-owned by Sims and Jerry
Namy, defeated Grade I winner On Fire Baby and Grade II winner Molly Morgan in
her sixth stakes victory.
Asmussen and owner Gillian Campbell collected their second consecutive
win in the $111,500 Open Mind when Santana guided Aireofdistinction to
victory in the sixth running of that six-furlong race for fillies and mares ages
three and up.
The results of the leading jockey, trainer and owner races were not
settled until late in Sunday’s 10-race closing day program and, in one case, the
final yards of the meet’s last race.
Jockey Corey Lanerie, the defending
September Meet win leader, and Santana were tied at 13 wins heading
into the meet’s 122th and final race. Though both men had a mount, they ended up
sharing the title when Paden and jockey Joe Johnson won the meet’s finale.
Lanerie led at the head of the stretch aboard Geometry, but finished fourth.
Santana and Catchifyoucan rallied late for third. The shared title was Lanerie’s
sixth “leading rider” title at Churchill Downs, while Santana earned his first.
“It’s exciting, competitive and
frustrating, because you don’t want to get beat, especially when it got to this
point,” Lanerie said after the meet’s last race. “I guess if you’ve never been
there it’s different but now it’s almost like people expect me to be there in
the running at the end. In the grand scheme of things you like to think it
doesn’t matter as long as you’re healthy and you’re winning races, but it really
does. But it’s a goal and now that I’ve won so many I just want to see how many
more I can win and how long I can keep going.”
“Last year that was my dream to win something like this at Churchill Downs,”
Santana said. “I want to say thank God first and then thank all the trainers for
giving me a chance, because it’s not easy. I would have liked to get one more in
that last one, but the best horse won the race. I’m just happy to be here and
happy to get the chance to ride good horses.”
Brian Hernandez Jr. finished one win back of the top pair.
The battle for leading trainer ended in a tie as Asmussen and Wayne
Catalano each saddled seven winners. Asmussen extended his record total of
Churchill Downs training crowns to 15, but Catalano’s crown was his first.
Catalano’s title was special because it was his first at the Louisville track,
but also because it was another indication that he has rebounded from a
significant health scare earlier in the year resulted in a hospital stay of 22
days.
“I just want to thank the folks here at Churchill Downs and also thank my wife
for standing by my side in my time of poor health,” Catalano said. “If you don’t
have your health, you don’t really have anything so we’re lucky to be standing
here. Today we went in there with good horses and couldn’t get it done outright.
So it’s a little tough, but we’ve been through a lot of those and again we’re
just happy to be here.”
Romans and Kenneally finished in a tie for third in the trainers
race, one win back of the top pair.
And the Ramseys, the Nicholasville, Kentucky, couple who have won
more races than any owner in the 140-year history of Churchill Downs, sent seven
horses into the winner’s circle during in September for their record-extending
22nd crown at the home of the Kentucky Derby.
The Ramseys edged Gary and Mary
West — who started a meet-high 20 horses — and Maggi Moss, each of whom finished
with six victories.
“All I have to say is ‘Wow’,” Ken
Ramsey said. “We’ve had a great time here at Churchill Downs over the years;
we’ve had our picture taken in this winner’s circle almost 400 times, but we’ve
still got one thing on our bucket list and that’s to get our picture made on the
inside of that (infield) fence in the (Kentucky) Derby.”
With their seven winners in the
September Meet, the Ramseys have 398 career wins at Churchill Downs.
A total of 73 horses were claimed
during the September Meet and the claims totaled $1,216,500. The claims resulted
in sales tax revenue of $72,990 to the Kentucky State Treasury.
Racing at Churchill Downs will resume
following a brief break with its 25-date Fall Meet, which will run from October
26-November 30. Racing will be conducted on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule to conclude
the second straight year — but only the second overall — during which Churchill
Downs has hosted a trio of racing meets in a calendar year.
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