Cupid battles back for Indiana Derby victory
Now that’s the way to bounce back. After a pair of disappointing efforts as the favorite, Cupid showed why bettors continue to have confidence in the good looking gray, with a bounce back victory in Saturday night’s $500,000 Indiana Derby. His ¾-length victory over The Player, in front of a record breaking crowd at Indiana Grand, was brave as could be.
Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Bob Baffert, Cupid went right to the lead, as expected under Rafael Bejarano from his outside post position. He was not alone, though. To win this Grade 2 feature he would need to battle all the way. The impressive winner of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes three starts back first had to battle with Pilot House to his inside, before Cocked and Loaded joined the early fray to his outside. With plenty of pressure being applied, Cupid set solid early fractions of 23.44, 46.75, and 1:10.86.
On the far turn of the two-turn affair, the son of Tapit was finally able to shake the competition, and open some breathing room as the large field prepared to hit the stretch run. He looked strong as they began their run down the straight for the wire, but one horse remained as a threat to get in the way of the favorite’s victory. The Player, who had a good stalking position on the outside throughout was pushing on, and it looked like Cupid’s lead might be in jeopardy. The lightly raced fourth choice kept trying down the stretch, but Cupid proved strong, despite the early pressure and running greenly late, to hold the challenger at bay.
“I had pretty much pressure in the beginning,” said Bejarano. “But after the three-eighths to the quarter pole, finally I got him by myself on the lead. I tried to hold him as long as I can and give him a little air to come to the stretch and to give me something extra. He showed a big kick in the stretch. I think he saw something and he was kind of panicking a little bit in the last sixteenth-mile and he was switching his leads back and forth and he tried to go to the rail. But that’s why he reacted. Because he never did that before.”
Cupid, a $900,000 yearling purchase for racing’s power trio of Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, raised his lifetime record to 7-3-1-0, while edging just a shade under his purchase price, with $880,553 in lifetime earnings.
As for the runner-up, The Player, he continued his progression up the ranks of the nation’s sophomore class. The son of Street Hero proved he belonged with graded stakes horses with a very good effort in only his fifth lifetime start. “We got outrun by a good horse today,” said his trainer, Buff Bradley. “I tell you what, Cupid really bounced back and showed he’s a pretty nice horse today, the way he ran. He could have come back to us any time, and he never gave an inch. But for The Player, I think he ran an awesome race. You always want to get that win. But I saw a lot of positives and know we could move forward.”
Meanwhile, the only horse drawn outside of the winner, Star Hill, who seems perpetually stuck on the outside, rallied nicely to be a clear third. No other horse was close, with Whateverybodywants finishing the best of the rest in the 12-horse Indiana Derby field. Cherry Wine, the second choice on the board and previously the second-place finisher in the Preakness, never showed much, and finished ninth.
Final time for the 8 ½ furlongs over the fast main track at Indiana Grand was 1:43.30. As the favorite, Cupid returned $5.40, $4.60, and $3.60 across the board. The exacta over the 4-1 The Player returned $44.80, while the trifecta including Star Hill, also 4-1, was good for $196.00.
Headed back to California this week, no firm plans have been set for what is next for Cupid. After a pair of very disappointing efforts in the Arkansas Derby and Easy Goer Stakes, and a minor throat surgery sandwiched in between them, Cupid proved in the Indiana Derby that he still has the speed and class to win major stakes winner. More than anything, though, he showed his courage. Turns out Cupid has heart.