By Michael Adolphson
World-traveling GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint conqueror Mongolian Saturday (Any Given Saturday) has arguably overcome as much as he has accomplished during the past year and is gearing up for another stab at World Championships glory in early November. In the last nine months, the durable Kentucky-bred bay has traveled to face Group I company in Hong Kong, Dubai, back to Hong Kong, England and then back to America, while surviving colic that derailed his run at Meydan and currently is in the final phases of recovery from a serious ulcer discovered in England after performing under par in both the G1 King's Stand and G1 July Cup.
The Normandy Farm-bred's adventures are not yet complete, according to trainer Enebish Ganbat. The conditioner, a former engineer-turned-Thoroughbred conditioner (who hails from the horse's namesake East Asian sovereign state), reported that Mongolian Saturday has been recuperating in Kentucky at Locust Grove Farm since returning from Newmarket and is doing well. Simply known as 'Ganbat', the Chicago-based trainer is confident that this latest test for the gritty 6-year-old will soon be passed with flying colors and he can proceed to prepare the $60,000 Keeneland September-sold earner of $1,039,681 for a Breeders' Cup defense.
“I sent him to Lexington a few days after he arrived in mid-July from England,” Ganbat explained. “He had an ulcer in his stomach that we found after the July Cup. At Royal Ascot [in the King's Stand] we expected him to run a big race, but he didn't. We knew something was wrong because he acted like a totally different horse after the July Cup. We gastro-scoped him and found it and it was very big–it must have started a while ago.
“One week ago we scoped him again and it was [still] there, but getting better. I will have him back at Arlington [International Racecourse] at the end of the month [of August],” Ganbat continued. “With ulcers sometimes it's stress and sometimes it's just too much eating from the feed tub and not enough [grazing on] natural grass. Almost every racehorse can get an ulcer–some big, some small–and if I had known sooner, we would have treated him sooner. At least we know now why he ran bad.”
A lamb in the barn who becomes a lion for his handlers on the racetrack, the Gainesway-sold half-brother to multiple stakes winner Victoryasecret (Victory Gallop) is infamously known for dumping riders in the mornings and having to be led out first from the paddock prior to races–often in a full jog. He began his career with a roar when taking a maiden against older horses by nearly 11 lengths in May of his sophomore season at Arlington. He returned two races later to beat older horses again in allowance company–jumping two conditions in the process–before finishing his 3-year-old season with two wins from nine starts, a stakes-placing in a dirt sprint and a graded stakes-placing around two turns in the GIII Ohio Derby.
During his 4-year-old season, Mongolian Saturday would begin to utilize his speed optimally, with his connections focusing almost solely on sprints on all three major surfaces. In 15 career sprint stakes attempts prior to shipping overseas for four consecutive international Group 1s, he hit the board 10 times with 12 top-four finishes. He began his 5-year-old season in 2015 with nine consecutive top-three finishes, including three runner-up efforts in graded turf stakes company, before prevailing under Florent Geroux on Oct. 31 at Keeneland on racing's biggest weekend. Overall, he has a record of 7-8-7 from 35 career starts over four seasons.
“He's always been a little better on turf, but he can run on anything,” Ganbat said. “He's a sensitive horse and can be difficult to train, but he loves to run and compete. I want to get him back and make him happy, so I can prepare him for the Breeders' Cup again. He needs at least a month of training before he can get a prep [for Santa Anita], so we will get him back training the beginning of September, hopefully.
“We won't decide on a prep race until we figure out how he's doing,” Ganbat concluded. “We might go back to Keeneland again, but we will wait and see.”
Last year, one race prior his Breeders' Cup win, he was a game second in the rained-off GIII Woodford S. on the Keeneland dirt. This year's Woodford takes place on Saturday, Oct. 8. If all goes well with his prep, Ganbat indicated that Mongolian Saturday, much like last year at Keeneland, would likely ship a few weeks out to Santa Anita to acclimate to his surroundings.
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