Kentucky Downs

Mint Franklin-Simpson Stakes (Grade 2)

THEY had to wait until the final day of the big Labor Day meeting at Kentucky Downs to get on the scoreboard but you think there might be some more Irish trainers making the trek next year as European runners took home a big share of the prize money.

Johnny Murtagh was on hand to greet his Jersey Stakes second Take Charge Star who got a terrific Jamie Spencer run up the rails in the final furlongs to snatch Grade 2 success for owner Maribeth Sandford.

The six and a half furlong Grade 2 Mint Franklin-Simpson Stakes was worth $450,000 to the winner. The Starspangledbanner colt won by a length and three quarters from longshot Two Out Hero, trained by Kevin Attard and second-choice Alpyland.

Murtagh said in an on-track interview: “We think he’s a Group 1 horse, I thought he was a Guineas horse at home. He’s learning on the job.”

“I came here yesterday morning, and I like the feel of the place. I think it’s a good track for European grass horses; it’s got (hills) and we’re used to that. They have looked after us really well. Since we’ve come here, everyone has been really nice and looked after us great. I couldn’t speak more highly of the place.”

Murtagh hinted that the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland could be on the table for Take Charge Star.

Big race

“The owners are from that area, so they’d be keen on that. I think he’s a horse that’s capable of running a big race in the Breeders’ Cup Mile,” Murtagh added.

Jamie Spencer added: “He wasn’t really traveling early, but once I got to the bottom of the hill, I was a long way back, but I was going to have to chance it going inside. It worked out well.”

It was a great weekend for Spencer who earlier had won another feature race on the Richard Hannon-trained Haatem.

The dual Royal Ascot winner held off a late charge from dual US Grade 2 winner Lagynos to win the Grade 3 Mint Millions Invitational Stakes by a neck. The five-year-old son of Phoenix Of Spain earned $573,500 for the win.

Spencer told on course media: “He’s a horse all about rhythm, he likes to get rolling, he travelled really well into the home turn. I probably produced him a furlong too soon, he had his two ears pricked, he eased up looking at the winning line. I wasn’t really worried about his recent form. He’s a fantastic horse. Thanks to James Doyle and Richard Brown (Wathnan Racing), very appreciative to get the ride.”

Plan comes together

There was an astute plan coming together for the Joseph O’Brien team earlier on the card when the Kentucky-bred filly Citrus Springs won a valuable listed race, and benefited in added prize money worth $443,550 to the winner for a Kentucky bred. Now owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, she had been bought at the Ocala March (2yo) Sale for $300,000 and raced here n the Munir colours.

Representing connections Justin Casse said on track: “We bought her saying maybe she’d be a type to bring back to Kentucky Downs, Kevin Blake came over and we bought a few fillies and colts, and sent them back to Joseph, this the second year doing it and it’s been a pretty fruitful venture. She’s paying for herself to say the least.”

Casse hinted that the filly, a Gowran Park maiden winner, could remain in the US.

Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes (Grade 2)

IT was the European trio who came to the fore in the closing stages of the mile-and-a-half Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes at the big money meeting at Kentucky Downs on Saturday.

Sir Mark Prescott’s star mare Tiffany faced eight rivals including a second British raider in Ed Walker’s Fort George, as well as the Willie Mullins-trained Breeders’ Cup Turf hero of last year, Ethical Diamond.

The mare had filled the runner-up spot in five consecutive races, with three of those coming in top-level races in Germany.

She secured an elusive Group 1 success in the Grosser Preis von Berlin in early August, and the Elite Racing-owned and bred six-year-old had regular partner Luke Morris crossed the Atlantic for the ride.

Ethical Diamond and Ryan Moore went off second favourite behind the leading US turf contender Burnham Square.

Moore met some trouble before the long bend into the finishing straight as Tiffany and Luke Morris made the best of their way home in the rail. However, it appeared as if he had ample time when in the clear but the mare was too good.

Prescott’s charge prevailed by a length and three-quarters, with Ethical Diamond second, who took home $188,000, and Fort George third.

The six-year-old daughter of Farhh looks set to round off her racing career at either the Breeders’ Cup or in Japan.

Prescott later told the Press Association: “It’s strange really as at the age of six, and after a whole series of seconds, you rather felt she might be beginning to be on the skids, but for some extraordinary reason she seems to be on the up and we’re all very grateful.

“We’re very lucky and very grateful and we thought Luke gave her a fantastic ride.”

Tiffany looks set for one final outing before going through the Tattersalls sales ring again, she was unsold at a million guineas at the Mares Sale last year.

“She’s in a fortunate position whereby she gets into both the Breeders’ Cup and the Japan Cup, and it’s a question of looking at the pros and cons of both. The main thing is to see how she is.

There was also European interest in the Grade 2 Nashville Derby Invitational, where Aidan and Joseph O’Brien were represented with Causeway and Nil Bua Gan Dua. Neither colt looked likely to get involved in the final furlongs with the Hugo Palmer-trained Saratoga Derby winner Glacius making another bold bid from the front. But though he had seen off all bar the Miguel Clement-trained winner Caroline St. Beat (Tyler Gaffalione), the final furlong was just a step too far and he was caught and beaten a length and a half. Nil Bua Gan Dua took fourth ahead of Causeway.

B>Saratoga/Del Mar