Darley Stable

Darley Stable’s Florentino (JPN) took the lead out of the gate and then held off stretch challenges from favored El Crespo and No Inflation to win Saturday’s 34th running of the $163,500 Jefferson Cup (Grade II) for 3-year-olds at Churchill Downs.

Florentino, who was shipped to Churchill Downs after scratching out of the June 5 Hill Prince (GIII) when it was rained off the turf at Belmont Park, was sent to the lead by Alan Garcia. Florentino set leisurely fractions of :25, :50.26 and 1:15.31 with El Crespo and No Inflation in closest pursuit.

Florentino shrugged off an initial challenge from El Crespo at the head of the stretch, kicked clear at mid-stretch and then hung on to edge El Crespo by three-quarters of a length with No Inflation another neck back.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Florentino covered the 1 1/8 miles on the firm Matt Winn Turf Course in 1:51.59 in turning back six rivals.

A son of Swept Overboard out of the Sunday Silence mare Must Be Loved, Florentino returned $9.20, $4.60 and $3.20. El Crespo, ridden by Julien Leparoux, returned $3.20 and $2.40 with No Inflation, ridden by Robby Albarado, paying $2.80 to show. Completing the order of finish were Advice, Jake Wil Gallop, Bruce N Autumn and Har D Boy.

The victory was worth $99,343 and increased Florentino’s earnings to $167,311 with his third victory in eight starts.

POST-RACE QUOTES – THE JEFFERSON CUP

NEAL McLAUGHLIN, assistant trainer of FLORENTINO-JPN (winner)

“That was great. The race (the June 5 Hill Prince at Belmont Park) rained off the turf up there and we had to look for another spot. Here was this race. The mile-and-an-eighth we were worried about and maybe soft turf we were worried about but he goes and throws in a race like that. That was super. What a ride. It was beautiful.”

ALAN GARCIA, jockey of FLORENTINO-JPN (winner)

“He broke a little slow and my horse took an easy lead. We went into the first turn and no other horse wanted to come so we were just all alone. We made the turn for home two furlongs out and I just had more horse than any other rider.”

GEORGE “RUSTY” ARNOLD II, trainer of EL CRESPO (runner-up as the favorite)

“I was pretty happy with where I was. I know it was a little slower than I was looking for, but we had a clean run at him and I thought we were going to get to him, but he didn’t. But he kept running on, and the races get a little bit longer as the year goes, so I’m pretty happy with his run.”

Q: Any ideas where you might go next?

“He’s going back to Arlington for the American Derby.”

JULIEN LEPAROUX, jockey of EL CRESPO (runner-up as the favorite)

“He just outkicked us a little bit. My horse just kept grinding and grinding – he kept on going. He ran good.”

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WILL MINE THAT BIRD FLY HIGH IN THE BELMONT? OPINIONS VARY – The question of the day Friday morning on the Churchill Downs backstretch centered on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes (Grade I) and Mine That Bird’s quest for two-thirds of the Triple Crown.
    A sampling of trainers seemed to indicate that “Bird” would be the word, but there were some reservations from others. The sampling of the responses as to who wins the Belmont:
    Carl Nafzger, trainer of Kentucky Derby winners Unbridled and Street Sense: “The winner? The one that gets there first! It is a difficult race to handicap. People thought Alydar would catch Affirmed (with the added distance). I am pulling for the Bird, but speed in the Belmont is dangerous and Kiaran McLaughlin’s horse (Charitable Man) has it. Class, Mine That Bird’s got it. It is going to be interesting to watch.”
    David Carroll, trainer of 2008 Belmont runner-up Denis of Cork: “Charitable Man. I think he is going to lay off the pace. He is bred to get the trip and he is a fresh horse.”
    Hal Wiggins, trainer of Rachel Alexandra when she won the Kentucky Oaks (GI): “Mine That Bird.”
    Ken McPeek, trainer of 2002 Belmont Stakes winner Sarava: “Dunkirk.”
     Tom Amoss, a new member of the 300-win club at Churchill Downs: “Mine That Bird. He’s the best 3-year-old boy in the country.”
    Lynn Whiting, an even newer member of the 300-win club at Churchill Downs and conditioner of 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee: “It will be an interesting race. The little horse (Mine That Bird) makes you respect him. The mile and a half is a different kind of race and not many want it.”
          Forrest Kaelin, eighth-leading trainer all time at Churchill Downs with 312 victories: “Mine That Bird. I don’t see anything in there that can close like him.”
Scooter Dickey, who was on the Kentucky Derby trail this spring with Flat Out: “The Bird! He’ll gallop.”
Steve Penrod, veteran Churchill Downs conditioner: “Mine That Bird’s a solid horse, but for an upset special look for something of (Nick) Zito’s. One of his horses (Brave Victory or Miner’s Escape) has a shot.”
    Greg Foley, who got Churchill Downs career victory No. 292 on Thursday: “I kind of like the little ol’ Bird. I hope he wins it.”
    Buff Bradley, trainer of millionaire and recent Louisville Handicap winner Brass Hat: “I think Charitable Man has a pretty good shot. His only bad race has been on Polytrack at Keeneland. But if you listen to Calvin (Borel), you think it is his horse (Mine That Bird).”

PERFECT ON TURF, TIZAQUEENA FACES HUGE TEST IN MINT JULEP – Darley Stable’s Tizaqueena stepped up admirably in her first foray into graded stakes company when she won the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (Grade II) on the Kentucky Derby  undercard on May 2.
 On Saturday, she will be asked to step up again when she faces such accomplished rivals as Pure Clan and Acoma in the 33rd running of the Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (Grade III) at a mile and a sixteenth on the Matt Winn Turf Course.
    Tizaqueena arrived at Churchill Downs on Thursday from Arlington Park, where she has had four works since her Derby Day triumph.
    “The Mint Julep was one of the races we looked at,” trainer Mike Stidham said of Tizaqueena. “We also looked at the Just a Game (Grade I at Belmont Park on Saturday), but that was a little tougher than what we wanted. But the Mint Julep is tough, too.”
    Tizaqueena, a 4-year-old daughter of two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) winner Tiznow out of the Mr. Prospector mare Issaqueena, broke her maiden at first asking on the main track at Fair Grounds last December. After two more dirt starts, Tizaqueena moved to the turf, where she is undefeated in three starts.
    “The condition she was eligible for was on the turf,” Stidham said of the move to the grass. “She has turf breeding on the female side of her family.”
    In the Distaff Turf Mile, Tizaqueena pressed the pace and then withstood a challenge from the more experienced Dawn After Dawn in deep stretch to win going away.
    “I am not surprised by her success,” Stidham said. “She had always shown she had ability. When they take that next step, you never know if they are going to take it, but she sure did when (Dawn After Dawn) got to her neck.”
    Brian Hernandez Jr. will ride Tizaqueena for the first time Saturday and break from post position seven. Tizaqueena will carry 119 pounds, three fewer than Pure Clan who has won four of six turf starts, and one fewer than Acoma, who is 2-for-2 on turf.

‘SECONDITIS’ GETTING A LITTLE OLD FOR MARGOLIS – The 2009 Spring Meet got off to a great start for trainer Steve Margolis with four winners from his first seven starters.
    Five weeks later, Margolis still has four wins … to go with 13 second-place finishes, more than any conditioner on the grounds.
    “My horses have been running very good, I couldn’t ask for any more,” said Margolis, who has 36 horses stabled here. “We have had some very tough beats.”
    Perhaps the toughest beat Margolis had came in a May 7 allowance race when Northern Belle was nipped by the smallest of noses by Oculuna right on the wire.
    “She is entered for the main track only Friday, but I think I am going to send to her to Philadelphia Park for a $200,000 stake (the Jostle) next Saturday,” Margolis said. “(Owner) Mr. (Martin) Cherry is from up there and it will give him a chance to be with his family and see the horse run, too.”
    Adding to the run of bad luck for Margolis for the disqualification of Lady Chace from second to third in the May 25 Winning Colors (Grade III) and Cash Refund had the misfortune of hooking up against Capt. Candyman Can in the May 16 Matt Winn to suffer his first defeat in three starts.
    Margolis is pointing Cash Refund to the $200,000 Jersey Shore (Grade III) at six furlongs at Monmouth Park on July 5.
    “I hope to start turning some of these seconds and around and finish with a real good meet,” said Margolis, who sends out Wild Bushrose in Friday’s opener.

AMOSS JOINS BYRNE FOR SATURDAY’S ‘GET IN THE GAME’ SEMINAR – Trainer and television racing analyst Tom Amoss will discuss the Belmont Stakes and more when he joins Churchill Downs’ Jill Byrne for her weekly “Get in the Game” handicapping seminar on Saturday, June 6.
    Amoss, a New Orleans native who is a two-time leading trainer at Churchill Downs, also serves as a racing analyst for TVG and will offer his perspective on Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird’s bid for the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
    Byrne’s recent guests in the seminar have included two-time Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel and Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr., trainer of Mine That Bird.
    
MILESTONE WATCH – Trainer David Vance has two shots Friday at getting his 300th victory at Churchill Downs. Vance sends out My Little Connor in the second race and Closetoaten in the ninth.

BARN TALK – Leroidugazon became the second offspring to 2005 champion turf male Leroidesanimaux to reach the races when he ran third to stablemate Grand Slam Andre in Thursday’s seventh race. Cathy and Bob Zollars own Leroidugazon, who is trained by Steve Asmussen. Elegant Beauty is the first Leroidesanimaux to race, having finished fourth and fifth in two Calder starts last month. …
    Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird is scheduled to return to Louisville at 9:30 a.m. Monday from Belmont Park. Coming on the same flight with Mine That Bird is Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I) candidate Arson Squad.
    Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said that Asiatic Boy would ship to Churchill Downs on Wednesday or Thursday for the Stephen Foster, which will serve as the 6-year-old’s U.S. debut. A winner of 7 of 15 career starts, Asiatic Boy has earned more than $3 million in his career.
 
WORK TAB – West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again, prepping for next Saturday’s $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 over a fast track Friday morning. The move was the fastest of 18 at the distance.  Macho Again won the Derby Trial (GIII) and was runner-up to Big Brown in the Preakness (GI), and took this year’s New Orleans Handicap (GIII) at Fair Grounds.    

Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan, a model of consistency on both turf and dirt throughout her career, headlines a stellar cast entered for Saturday’s 33rd running of the $100,000-added Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) to be run at 1 1/16th miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course at Churchill Downs.

    The Early Times Mint Julep, which goes as the 10th race on the 11-race card that opens with a 12:45 p.m. (EDT) post time, has attracted four graded stakes winners to its field of seven fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

    The Bob Holthus-trained Pure Clan, the only Grade I stakes winner in the field, looms as the marquee attraction as she makes her 2009 debut in the Early Times Mint Julep.  

Pure Clan placed ninth behind eventual filly and mare turf champion Forever Together in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I) at Santa Anita in her most recent start on Oct. 24.  But the versatile 4-year-old daughter of Pure Prize has always run well at Churchill Downs, where she took the Pocahontas (Grade III) and Golden Rod (Grade II) on dirt as a 2-year-old in 2007, and returned last year to run third to eventual 3-year-old filly champion Proud Spell in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and later added a win in the Grade III Regret on turf to her local resume.  She followed her Regret victory with a trip to Southern California, where she scored a dramatic win in the American Oaks (GI) at Hollywood Park, an effort that serves as her career highlight to this point.
    
    Pure Clan is the only millionaire in the field as she has earned $1,052,416 while compiling a career record of 6-2-2 in 11 races.  Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Saturday and make up most of the 122-pound impost for Pure Clan, who will spot from 2-9 pounds to her rivals. Pure Clan will break from post position one.

    Other turf graded-stakes winners at Churchill Downs in the Early Times Mint Julep are Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Acoma, Darley Stable’s Tizaqueena and Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout.

    Trained by David Carroll, Acoma returns to the sod for the first time since winning the Grade II Mrs. Revere here last fall. The regally bred daughter of Empire Maker will carry 120 pounds and be ridden by Corey Lanerie.  Acoma, who breaks from post three, will be running for the first time since a disappointing third-place finish as the favorite behind Seventh Street in the $500,000 Apple Blossom (GI) over traditional dirt at Oaklawn Park on April 4.

    Tizaqueena, who scored her first graded-stakes victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) on Kentucky Derby Day, is 3-for-3 on the grass for trainer Michael Stidham and boasts an overall record of five wins in six career starts. Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Tizaqueena, who will carry 119 pounds and drew the outside post in the field of seven fillies and mares.  

    The remaining graded stakes winner in the field Saturday is Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout, who took the Grade III Pucker Up on the Arlington Park grass last September. The Early Times Mint Julep will serve as the 2009 debut for Closeout, who concluded her 2008 season with a fourth-place finish to Alwajeeha in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (Grade I) at Keeneland in October.  

The homebred daughter of Repriced has a win and a runner-up finish in two starts over the Matt Winn Turf Course for trainer Tom Proctor.  Veteran Larry Melancon will be in the saddle aboard Closeout, who was assigned 116 pounds.

Pure Clan will be joined in the Early Times Mint Julep starting gate by stablemate Day of Victory, a 4-year-old daughter of Victory Gallop who is also owned by Lakin and trained by Holthus.  She is coming off an allowance win on the dirt at Oaklawn Park, her fourth win in 17 races, and will be ridden Saturday by Larry Sterling Jr.

    The field for the Early Times Mint Julep, from the hedge out, is as follows: Pure Clan (Bridgmohan, 122 pounds), In My Glory (Jesus Castanon, 113), Acoma (Lanerie, 120), Sugar Baby Love (GER) (Jon Court, 114), Closeout (Melancon, 116), Day of Victory (Sterling, 114) and Tizaqueena (Hernandez, 119).