Highland Falls comes through in the end to win Blame Stakes

Louisville, Ky.

Connections were confident. Bettors were confident. But there was still a moment or two when Highland Falls had his backers worrying about whether he would win Saturday’s Grade 3, $275,000 Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs.

“Great trip, but I just wish he would have taken me a little bit sooner,” jockey Florent Géroux said. “He’s been running like this lately. He’s a horse that you need to grind on him very early and get him involved turning for home. I think he’s a horse who needs to be right there.”

That he was.

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A 4-year-old Godolphin homebred trained by Brad Cox, Highland Falls (4-5) looked like he might run out of the ground he was making up in the stretch. Then Géroux found that extra gear in the last furlong to finish his charge to a one-length victory on a damp, gray afternoon.

Six weeks after second-place finish in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2), Saturday’s race resulted in the first graded-stakes win in three tries for the colt sired by Curlin. It could have been the first such victory in five tries for runner-up Cagliostro (7-1), who had a two-length lead going into that last furlong of the 1 1/8-mile race. Highland Falls’s final burst of speed changed the narrative.

“I thought we were home free at the eighth pole,” runner-up trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “Just got beat on the wire. He ran a great race. Can’t be disappointed in how he performed.”

A lot of the race took shape Saturday morning, when two-time graded-stakes winner Tapit Trice was among the four scratches that left a field of seven older horses. If weather was a worry, trainer Todd Pletcher’s decision came before anyone could know the rain in the forecast would be anything but heavy. Instead, it tightened the main track, which remained fast all day.

It was not just Tapit Trice. Long shots Five Star General, Uncle Jake and Classic Causeway would have brought early speed if they had not run Monday in an off-the-turf allowance race that Five Star General won two days after entries had been taken for the Blame.

“We’re entering seven days out, so we have plenty of time to look at these races,” Cox said. “It seemed like all the speed horses were cross-entered, and they opted to go into the allowance race. It took away from the pace here. It was a little concerning, but (Highland Falls) was able to overcome it.”

Frosted Departure (14-1) took the early lead from the rail post and kept it until the second turn, where Cagliostro took over. The whole way, Highland Falls was in mid-pack, never called more than 2 1/2 lengths behind at any call as the clock ticked away honest but not blazing fractions of 23.31, 47.72, 1:11.71 and 1:36.00.

“I was very patient around the turn,” Cagliostro’s jockey José Ortiz said. “When I asked him to go, he responded very well. He just got beat in the last couple jumps.”

Taking the two path down the stretch, Cagliostro had an advantage that prompted audible concern from the Godolphin group in the stands near the finish line. Before those verbalized exhales turned into gasps, though, Géroux and Highland Falls took the three path to erase the deficit and edge clear in the final yards on the way to a winning time of 1:48.51.

Dreamlike (2-1) closed from fifth to finish third followed in order by Trademark (13-1), Frosted Departure, War Campaign (7-1) and Last Samurai (36-1). Highland Falls paid $3.90, $2.98 and $2,10; Cagliostro $5.76 and $3.64; and Dreamlike $2.56.

As confident as the winning connections sounded after the race, one admitted he also was relieved.

“I was a little worried at the quarter pole,” Godolphin USA bloodstock director Michael Banahan said. “It takes him a little bit to get going, but when he does, he has plenty of stamina. He’d like a little bit more pace in the race, probably.”

And maybe some more distance. That was just what Banahan and Cox had in mind on an afternoon billed as a preview day for the Stephen Foster (G1) over the same track June 29. The problem is that is 1 1/8 miles.

“I supposed the Jockey Club (Gold Cup) up in New York would be an ideal race for him,” Banahan said, looking way ahead to that 1 1/4-mile, Grade 1 race Sept. 1. And beyond. “I think the Breeders’ Cup (Classic) is still a mile-and-a-quarter as well.”

True that. Although Cox was in sync with Banahan in looking ahead to Labor Day weekend at Saratoga, he knows there is a lot of time between now and then. He mentioned the Whitney (G1) at 1 1/8 miles Aug. 3 at Saratoga as a possibility, but the Jockey Club Gold Cup would remain the end-of-summer target.

“That’s the goal to get him there,” Cox said. “I don’t know if we need a race between now and then. If there’s something that makes sense, we’ll probably look at running between now and there.”

Cox said First Mission could be a candidate for the Stephen Foster as well as the races being mentioned for Highland Falls, even though he would like to keep them on separate paths. He also said Hit Show, who won an allowance race off a layoff last month, could be prominent in the older handicap division.

Even though the rain was not falling very hard, Banahan poured some reality on the long-range plans that he and Cox outlined.

“Look,” he said, “that was just a Grade 3 race. We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. But maybe the Jockey Club might be a nice race for him.”