Entering Saturday's GI Shadwell Turf Mile, a 'Win and You're In' test for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, Grand Arch (Arch) had posted a record of two wins and three seconds from five tries over the sometimes-quirky Keeneland turf course. Following 97 seconds and a little bit of change over a course rendered soft by pelting rain Friday, he took his strike rate to an even 50% with a narrow success over GI Arlington Million hero The Pizza Man (English Channel).
Beaten just a length behind Wise Dan (Wiseman's Ferry) in last year's running of this event, Grand Arch was a never-nearer eighth to Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein) in the Mile and called it a season. The bay made his 6-year-old debut a winning one, scoring by a neck over similarly soft going in an Apr. 15 allowance ahead of a sixth in the nine-furlong GI Turf Classic at Churchill May 2. An even fifth behind King Kreesa (King Cugat) in the July 11 Forbidden Apple S. at Belmont, he bounced back to best next-out track-record setter Ironicus (Distorted Humor) in the GII Fourstardave H. at the Spa Aug. 15.
Drawn neatly in gate four, Grand Arch got the perfect spot at the rail from fourth as Kelinni (Ire) (Refuse to Bend {Ire}), King Kreesa and Heart to Heart (English Channel) lined up ahead of him banking around the first turn. He crept into easy striking distance just off the heels of the front-runner entering the second turn and came away from the inside to launch his bid at the head of the lane. Grand Arch took command three-sixteenths of a mile from home, but would not switch his leads over the laboring going. Tourist, unusually far back early, dove down to the inside and The Pizza Man, off slowly, was coming with a furious rally down the center, but the wire came in the nick of time for Grand Arch. The race was marred by a fatal injury suffered by Calumet Farm's Skyring (English Channel) midway on the backstretch.
“He broke well and we got a good position,” commented winning jockey Luis Saez. “When we got to the half-mile (pole), I had so much horse [that] I was just waiting for a little room. Thank God when we got to the stretch he got a little room and he kept going. At the end, I saw two horses flying and I thought they were going to beat me, but he's a fighter. He just kept going.”
For the runner-up, it's on to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf.
“He ran huge,” said owner Rich Papiese. “He got more out of this race than you could ever imagine for going into the Breeders' Cup and that's why we ran here instead of any other race.”
Saturday, Keeneland
SHADWELL TURF MILE S.-GI, $1,000,000, KEE, 10-3, 3yo/up, 1mT, 1:37.45, yl.
1–&GRAND ARCH, 126, g, 6, by Arch
1st Dam: Bacinella, by El Gran Senor
2nd Dam: Oriental Mystique (Ire), by Kris (GB)
3rd Dam: Miss Toshiba, by Sir Ivor
($80,000 Wlg '09 KEENOV; $120,000 Ylg '10KEESEP). O-Jim & Susan Hill; B-Hunter Valley Farm &S. Hillen (KY); T-Brian A. Lynch; J-Luis Saez.
$600,000. Lifetime Record: 23-7-6-6, $1,607,230. *1/2 to Fong's Thong (Dr Fong), SW-Eng, $143,303. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. WerkNick Rating: A. [bullet ad=”hunter-valley-raised-sold-by-hunter-valley-farm”][bullet ad=”margaux-farm-training-graduate”][bullet ad=”indian-creek-sold-by-indian-creek-for-iroquois”][bullet ad=”equix-selection”][bullet ad=”grovendale-another-g1-producer”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″] 2–The Pizza Man, 126, g, 6, English Channel–I Can Fan Fan, by Lear Fan. O/B-Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc.(IL); T-Roger A. Brueggemann. $200,000.
3–Tourist, 126, c, 4, Tiznow–Unbridled Melody, byUnbridled's Song. O-WinStar Farm LLC, Wachtel Stable & Gary Barber; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott. $100,000.
Margins: HD, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 4.30, 4.40, 8.40.
Also Ran: Seek Again, Dutch Connection (GB), King Kreesa, Kelinni (Ire), Jack Milton, Bobby's Kitten, Heart to Heart, Grand Tito, Skyring. Scratched: War Envoy. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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