KD Turf Cup (Grade 3)- $750.000 Purse
KD- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Half on the Turf
September 8, 2018

Spanish Showboat is one of the top active horses in the game today. He might not be on the top of everyone’s list, but if we all made a list of our top 20, I’m sure he would be on the vast majority of them. At eight years old, this gelding continues to amaze, and what he did at the KD Turf Cup is something that I am not sure if I have covered before. In this game, it can seem like a three length win is a rout. Winning by seven? Just doesn’t happen at this level. It can happen at free tracks, or lower end tracks, but not in a graded stake. Now, of course, we can lessen the impact of that statement by pointing out that on soft turf the margins of victory can be greater, and that since this was a twelve-furlong race, it was not as special as it seems. That, would be true, but let’s not let that put a damper on this fantastic run by one of the greats. Congratulations to the trainer, Mb Stables, and to the jockey, L H Colon, each of whom are first time KD Turf Cup winners. The time of the win on the slop was 2:30.60. A little housekeeping to note before we begin in that both The Laffin Sniper and Range Of The Sun would be scratched. Let’s take a look!

(½ Mile- :50.20)- Our pre-race selection, Great Bounty was looking good in his effort to get Drabfantasy his third straight win in this race. Of course, probably too good, as he jumped out to an uncontested four and a half length lead. That’s where we find the rest of the field. A group of four are battling for the second place position, with My Plucky (Hambletonian Stable) on the inside and Sweet Son (Hawaiian Shirt Guy) on the outside. In the middle would be General White (Eastern Equine) and The Joker (D J C Racing Stables). Out of the gate, it looked like The Joker might challenge Great Bounty more, but ended up restrained. B K D Express (Drabfantasy) was another length back. It’d be another length to Bandito (TwinTowersRacing) and Request The Ex (Sharis Stables). Our eventual winner, Spanish Showboat was nearly nine lengths off the pace for trainer Mb Stables, and running in the third lane. Stop Rioja (Oquinn Farm) is the early trailer.

(3/4 Mile- 1:15.33)- Halfway into the race, there was not much action. The main excitement, if you can call it that, was Sweet Son looking momentarily like he might challenge Great Bounty a little more, but instead, this was just a push to get sole possession of second place. Further down the track now, and after a mile of racing, Great Bounty is still the comfortable leader, ahead by three over Sweet Son, though he was about to be re-passed by both The Joker and General White, and My Plucky was preparing a move of his own. After that, not a whole lot of passing, but we can clearly see now how Spanish Showboat is going to make his move. He will take the outside path along the long final turn here, running in the sixth lane. After a mile, he was still just 8th, with just over seven lengths to make up.

(Top Of Stretch, 2F To Go)- Just like that, in a quarter of a mile, Spanish Showboat has the lead. It didn’t make a difference that he was making a wide move, this is a legendary horse that has make many moves like this in his long career. Though, I didn’t think he was going to catch Great Bounty so quickly. His lead is a length over the early pacesetter now. For a little while B K D Express was matching his stride, but simply could not keep up with Spanish Showboat the whole time. Still, this push allowed him to end up in a third place battle with The Joker who needed a big run here to start justifying his big purchase price. They trailed by two and a half. Bandito was another two lengths back, but gradually moving up. Sweet Son and My Plucky were tiring, and running with General White, who had not yet looked to advance. Request The Ex and Stop Rioja were well back.

(Finish- 2:30.60)- Sit back and watch greatness. Spanish Showboat, in the stretch, continued to pour it on and extended his lead more and more. Seven lengths ends up being your official margin of victory, and while it may have helped that it was on soft turf, this is something that is not commonly seen here in this game at this level. B K D Express completes the exacta without any real challenge at The Joker started backing off, and the charging Bandito started his run a little too late. They dead heat for third. As everyone else was ten or more lengths back, let’s close this out the easy and polite way by just mentioning the final running order: Great Bounty, General White, Request The Ex, My Plucky, Stop Rioja, and Sweet Son.

About The Winner: Spanish Showboat, trained by Mb Stables and ridden to victory by L H Colon, is an eight year old gelding by Spanish Force, and is out of Grand Showboat. He was bred in West Virginia by Black Tusk Racing as a yearling, and acquired by Mb Stables via Team Furey in February 2014 private sale for $200.000. That’s worked out well, congratulations to the connections! This was his 53rd career start, and his 17th victory. It his 13th graded victory, and his career earnings are now $4,496.470.

Track: Soft
Time: :50¹  1:15¹  2:06¹  2:30³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 9 – 2 Paid 53.20
$1 Trifecta: 9 – 2 – 1 Paid 538.40, 9 – 2 – 4 Paid 180.10

Scratched: The Laffin Sniper, Range Of The Sun(L)

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES