Benson Seeks First Graded Win in Iroquois

Liam F. Benson’s Expected Ruler, who is trained by 20-year-old Liam Benson, a student at the University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program will be looking to give the young trainer his first graded stakes victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Iroquois (GIII). The son of Leroidesanimaux is the 5-1 morning line third choice in the betting, and gave Benson his first stakes victory last time out when he scored a 47-1 upset in the non-graded Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park. Although the race was a month ago, Benson is still soaking in the victory.

“I’m enjoying every minute of it,” said Benson, who trains for his father. “We’re only a couple of days out from the race so I’ve got to enjoy it. It’s been fun; I mean it’s way more fun to have a nice horse in the barn than not.”

The 2-year-old colt’s victory in the Tyro is his lone start to date. Benson wanted to take a shot in a stakes with the horse first time out.

“He’s by Leroidesanimaux so I knew he would handle the turf just fine and everything just kind of set up for us,” Benson said. “There was a maiden special weight the week before that didn’t fill and I didn’t want to send him two turns first time out so I thought ‘Why not give it a try?’. If anything I figured he would finish within a couple of lengths and I didn’t think he was going to get beat up real bad, so I figured I’d take a shot.”

The Iroquois will be the Florida-bred’s first start over the dirt and around two turns. Benson is confident about Expected Ruler handling both as he trained over the Churchill main track last Saturday and handled it “extremely well” according to the trainer.

“It’s a much tighter track than Monmouth and he could grab a hold of it much better,” Benson stated. “That work last week was very easy for him. We’ve got a real nice horse for the first time and it’s better to try the dirt for the first time. We’ll try it and see how he handles it. He’ll go all day so I really don’t think that distance is going to be an issue. I really haven’t hit the bottom of this horse and I don’t know where the bottom is or what surface it’s on. I think he’ll do fine on the dirt. I know that there’s more left in the tank after what we saw in the Tyro because when he came back, he wasn’t even huffing after that race.”

Wilmer Garcia, the pilot for the colt’s victory in the Tyro, has the mount on Saturday.

Also entered in the Iroquois is Conquest Stables’ Conquest Windycity, who is the 7-2 morning line favorite and comes off a runner-up effort in a maiden special weight on the turf at Saratoga where he was beaten 2 ¼ lengths. Norman Casse, assistant to his father Mark, has had this race in mind for the son of Tiznow before his last start.

“The whole plan all along was to run him on the turf so we could get a two-turn race into him and we were looking at this race the whole time,” Casse said. “Obviously we would have liked to win, we think he’s a little better on the dirt but the whole point was to get a two turn race in him before the Iroquois.”

Steve Landers’ Twirling Cinnamon was a well-beaten eighth in the Sanford (GIII) at Saratoga in his most recent start, where trainer Brad Cox stated that the son of Twirling Candy might have struggled a little bit.

“He didn’t run really bad but he struggled with the track up there,” Cox said. “He gets over this track much better than he does the Saratoga surface so I expect him to run really big on Saturday.”

Cox feels that distance won’t be as much of an issue for the horse, and is more concerned with how he’ll handle the class of the field.

“You never really know how he’ll take the two turns,” he said. “He’s by Twirling Candy and by the way he moves it looks like he can handle the two turns but it’s always a question mark with these young horses. We do have the advantage of having two races and he’s got a good foundation in him so I don’t think distance will be an issue as much as class.”

The field for the Iroquois, from rail out (with jockey and odds): Conquest Windycity (Shaun Bridgmohan; 7-2), Meeteetse Fly (Joe Johnson; 15-1), Expected Ruler (Wilmer Garcia; 5-1), Codominium (Jon Court; 8-1), Unbridled Outlaw (Corey Lanerie; 4-1), Cocked and Loaded (Emmanuel Esquivel; 6-1), Star Hill (Jose Ortiz; 10-1), Dothat Dance (Marcelino Pedroza; 20-1), Missile Bomb (Victor Lebron; 15-1), Rated R Superstar (Calvin Borel; 8-1), Twirling Cinnamon (Brian Hernandez, Jr.; 12-1), Baychimo (Paco Lopez; 30-1).

CASSE HOPING FOR BIG MEET WITH TWO-YEAR-OLDS

Norman Casse, assistant trainer to his father Mark, is hoping for a successful September Meet and looks forward to racing some of his 2-year-olds at Churchill this month.

“We’re more or less trying to get some of our younger horses started,” Casse said. “That’s what our team likes to use the September meet for. We like to get them started see where they’re at and hopefully win a few races and get them set up for Keeneland and the Churchill Fall Meet. That’s basically what the September Meet is for us really is just getting our 2-year-olds started and ready to go. We’ve got a lot of talented young horses and it’s not just about getting them ready but maintaining where they’re at once we do, and just moving forward with him. All the 2-year-olds that we’re running this meet are all stabled here because we know that they like it.”

Casse will be starting two 2-year-olds on the Opening Day card in Conquest Stables’ Conquest Big E (Race 5) and John C. Oxley’s Gametown (Race 8); Shaun Bridgmohan will be in the irons for both horses. The former of the two will be making his career debut, while the latter will be racing second time out. The son of Street Sense ran second in a maiden special weight on the turf at Saratoga last month.

“He showed in his last race that he’s pretty talented,” Casse said of Gametown.

Overall, Casse is grateful for Churchill Downs racing in the month of September, which they began doing two years ago.

“The September Meet has really given Kentucky horseman a year-round circuit,” he said. “We’re just so appreciative to have a place to run in September. I appreciate Churchill taking the September dates when they did; that’s one of the reasons why we’re stabled here most of the year. It’s really a good thing that they do.”

Source: Churchill Downs