Pleuven gets Determined Win in Cliff Guilliams

Pleuven made the most of getting away from the competition in graded stakes and $100,000 races, wearing down a determined Flashlight to take the $50,000 Cliff Guilliams Memorial by a length Monday on closing day of Ellis Park’s summer meet.

“I got paid to work him this afternoon,” said jockey Channing Hill, Pleuven’s regular rider. “… He really just towed me around the there. I just asked him to run politely. And he did.”

Pleuven, winner of Churchill Downs’ Grade 2 Wise Dan three races earlier, finished seventh in Indiana Grand’s Warrior Veterans, but hit the gate hard at the start and was much farther back early than his usual stalking style. In his last start, the 5-year-old gelding was a close third in Mountaineer Park’s West Virginia Speaker’s Cup.

“He’s just a super pro,” Hill said. “Obviously he was coming off the disappointing trips at Indiana and Mountaineer. But he had viable excuses. He bounced his head off the gate leaving the starting gate at Indiana, then he kind of threw himself all off. When I asked him to punch that day, he was a little reluctant. Then at Mountaineer, that turf course was so hard. They went fast, and he just didn’t have the punch he has. Today he showed how much of a pro he is.”

Said winning trainer Phil Sims: “I thought it was a heck of a race. It was a good race. He’s had some bad luck his last couple of starts. He’s a gelding, so there’s no reason to go after big cheese right now. We’re just trying to put him in the right spot. We felt pretty confident watching the race all the way. He was in hand pretty well.”

When no one else went to the lead, Flashlight found himself in front, with David Flores backing down the pace to 25.72 for the first quarter-mile, 50.50 for the half. Pleuven dogged Flashlight from the outside while never more than a length back, sticking his head in front with a quarter-mile to go. Flashlight hung in before Pleuven edged away late, covering the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.40. He paid $3.60 as the 4-5 favorite.

“I knew I had the horse to,” Hill said of getting past the Tim Glyshaw-trained Flashlight, who at 14-1 was the longest shot in the field of five. “I mean Glyshaw’s horse really dug in nice. I was breezing him, so I knew he was all right. I just tried to get a little bit of a jump on him. And the the biggest thing down the lane, I just tried to get a nice even spot. Because the turf course inside, you really don’t want to be there.

“… I honestly thought there’d be more pace in there. But he broke so well and set himself in such a nice spot.”

A sprinkler malfunction during overnight watering left the turf softer in some spots than others. In consultation with the jockeys, track management took the final two turf races off the grass.

“It wasn’t super soft, but it’s in between,” Hill said. “It’s pretty chewed up, (though), it’s not as wet as it was. With a horse like him, you’ve got a lot of confidence. His back form has shown he can handle pretty much any kind of turf course…. There is some definitely squishy spots, and there are some really dead spots, where a younger horse might not have the confidence to put itself through there.”

Pleuven, a French-bred son of the Irish-bred stallion Turtle Bowl out of a mare by 1996 Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Singspiel, now is 6-2-3 in 14 starts in a career that started in Europe. He’s now made $304,945, most of it for owner Nelson McMakin of Lexington.

Two days before Pleuven’s Wise Dan win, trainer Tim Glyshaw claimed Flashlight for $50,000. He also ran in the Warrior Veterans, finishing sixth and then was a well-beaten fifth in an Indiana Grand allowance race.

“I told David to maybe be a little bit off the rail, but we inherited the lead and the rail. But David rode a great race, really kept him going to the end,” said Natalie Glyshaw, the trainer’s wife and assistant. “The winner is an awesome horse…. He’s a Grade 2 winner. He’s supposed to beat us.” 

Said Flores: “They started pushing him at the half-mile, but I still have horse. So I tried to save as much as I could. I looked over, and Channing looked like he was loaded. I’m thinking, ‘All I can do is give it a shot, and hopefully I might get another run. He tried to come back from the eighth pole, but he just got beat by a better horse. He ran a very good race and was just second-best today.”

It was another 3 1/4 lengths back to One Touch, followed by Naval Gazer and second-choice Financial Modeling.

Source: Ellis Park