Arklow adds blinkers and snaps dry spell in wet Turf Cup

Grade 1 winner Arklow, winless in five starts since taking last year's Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) at Belmont Park, seized control at the top of the stretch and outran both favored Zulu Alpha and second-choice Red Knight to win the Grade 3, $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. 

Adding blinkers for the 1 1/2-miles Turf Cup, Arklow and jockey Florent Geroux tracked a moderate pace on soft going while racing three wide with Red Knight to his inside and Zulu Alpha near the rear of the 10 horse field. As the field turned for home, Arklow and Red Knight were on near even terms with Zulu Alpha having drawn closer to that pair. But as they commenced the uphill climb to the wire, Arklow spurted clear of Red Knight to score by 1 1/2 lengths as the 5-1 third choice. Red Knight comfortably fended off 4-5 favorite Zulu Alpha by a length for second. 

Arklow, who also won the 2018 Kentucky Turf Cup, joins Da Big Hoss and Rochester as the only multiple winners. 

“It was a great trip for him," Geroux said. "He was closer to the lead than he’s used too. First time with blinkers, at 6 years old, helped him and the ground also helped. From there I just nursed him around and he waited for my signal down the stretch. He was able to hold off those horses pretty easily.” 

As for beaten favorite Zulu Alpha, jockey Tyler Gaffalione noted the soft going may have played a role in the result.

“Everything worked out. We had a nice clean trip," Gaffalione said. "The only thing I would say is that maybe the ground was getting away from him down the stretch. He was really digging in, trying to go get that horse, but it was just breaking away from him. Might be a little soft out there for him. It was a great performance. He tried hard the whole way. He’s all class and hopefully we’ll rebound in the Breeders’ Cup.”

“He was pretty sharp coming into this race," Cox said of Arklow. "It’s easy to say it now, but we had a lot of confidence that he would move forward with the blinkers. He likes it down here and obviously when it started raining it gave us even more confidence. He definitely likes a little juice in the ground, and he responded well."

Since winning last summer's Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, Arklow had gone winless in five starts while being no match for Zulu Alpha in both the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) at Gulfstream Park in January and the July 12 Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland. Most recently, he was a non-factor when fourth as the favorite in the Grade 1 United Nations on July 18 at Monmouth Park.

Owned by Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger and Peter Coneway, Arklow improves to 29: 7-7-2 with more than $2.4 million in earnings.