Red Knight emerges from 3-way battle to upset Ky. Turf Cup

Franklin, Ky.

Trainer Mike Maker is a man who measures his words and his outward emotions. After winning a pair of rich graded stakes on Saturday at Kentucky Downs, he could not stifle a modest smile – even if he still held back some of the words.

After 8-year-old Red Knight (12-1) stormed home to win by a nose over favored Gufo (8-5) in the 1 1/2-mile, Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup, Maker was asked how high the day ranked for him.

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He raised his left hand just above his head. And cracked a contented smile.

“He was tremendous,” Maker said of Red Knight. “To be honest with you, I thought he was going to get beat, but he fought hard. ... He is a fighter. He is a tough horse.”

Previously trained by Bill Mott, the Pure Prize gelding who is a homebred of Thomas Egan’s Trinity Farm is 2-for-2 racing for Maker. Coming off an 11-month layoff for what Maker said was a break and later a popped splint, Red Knight won the Colonial Cup on July 27 before being pointed to this qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

In Virginia, Red Knight went off at odds of 9-2. On Saturday he was no better than the fifth betting choice in the field of 12. Maker said, though, this performance that gave him a record fifth Kentucky Turf Cup training victory was not the surprise. It was the comeback 45 days ago in Virginia that caught him off guard.

“It was a surprise the last time,” he said. “He overcame the trainer coming off the year layoff. Having that race under his belt allowed him to move forward off that effort.”

Still, Red Knight and jockey Gerardo Corrales faced a fierce fight down the stretch of a race that unfolded like a prototypical turf contest over a route of ground.

Red Knight’s stablemate Keystone Field (68-1) set a soft pace on the firm, rolling course, going out in 24.26, 49.72 and 1:14.52. Highest Honors (11-1) briefly flashed into the lead after being clocked at 1:38.46.

That was when the race really began.

Turning five wide into the long stretch, Red Knight surged into contention. So did Joel Rosario on 5-year-old Gufo, who was another path outside Red Knight as he made his charge. Inside the last furlong, he brushed 6-year-old Another Mystery (15-1), who was widest of the three.

“We didn’t have the best break out of there,” Another Mystery’s jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said. “He was running, but he ran away from (Red Knight) in the last 100 yards. I tried to keep his attention to feel (Gufo), and he’d come back. He’d fight back, but he just got beat.”

It still looked like Gufo, racing only two weeks after winning the Sword Dancer (G1) at Saratoga, might prevail in the last 50 yards.

“We were moving pretty good,” Rosario said. “He’d run his race. I did everything I could. ... It’s not easy sometimes, you know? We want to get there, but it’s tough to win all the time.”

Corrales said the threat from Gufo caused Red Knight to dig down for one last burst of speed.

“When Gufo came next to Red Knight, Red Knight actually saw him, eye to eye, and he got additional energy,” Corrales said through a translator. “He just never quit. He just kept trying.”

“I thought we won it,” Maker said. “After watching the replay, I was like, whoa, that was a little tighter than I thought.”

Behind the top three, Highest Honors faded to finish fourth, 1 1/4 lengths behind. He was followed, in order, by Admission Office (27-1), Arklow (2-1), Glynn County (22-1), Who’s the Star (24-1), Rogue Element (150-1), Breakpoint (30-1), Temple (7-1) and Keystone Field (68-1).

Under Kentucky’s penny breakage, Red Knight paid $26.04, $9.50 and $6,30; Gufo $3.46 and $2.94; and Another Mystery $6.38.

Earlier, Maker won with Somelikeithotbrown in the Mint Million (G3), a race that had been pushed back a week because of a thunderstorm last Saturday. While plans for Somelikeithotbrown were not set, the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 5 seemed a more certain target for Red Knight.

“I think (Gufo) is the head of the class,” Maker said, “so I’d like to think we fit at Keeneland.”

That was when Maker’s smile seemed to have the look of a canary-swallowing cat. Asked if he really thought his long shot had a chance Saturday, he said, “Yes, I did. And I’ve got the text messages to prove it.”