Lugan Knight Came out at the end of Saturday’s thrilling stretch duel victory against New York-bred Arctic Arrogance for $150,000 Jerome StakesAqueduct 1 turn mile for 2nd graders.
BG Stable’s Kentucky homebred dog, trained by Michael McCarthy, earned 10 qualifying points for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6, clinching the next four finishers. 4-3-2-1 points were awarded.
Click here for Aqueduct entries and results.
Bay’s son of the Golden Cent, whose victory was won by New York Racing Association’s 2022 rider Dylan Davis, answered a question McCarthy asked about his ability over the sprint distance, and how he performed in his stakes debut. showed his ability.
#4 Lugan Knight Is Tough As Nails On The Road To The Jerome Stakes #kai derby When @DavisJockey Mike McCarthy pays $9.10.
your #TwinSpiresReplay ?? pic.twitter.com/ASOxRO6HqW
— Twin Spire Racing ?? (@Twin Spire) January 7, 2023
“I told Dylan that if I stretched forward, the horse might lie a little closer.” didn’t go as fast as I thought it would.”
Lugan Knight broke evenly from post 3. Piloted by Kendrick Carmouche, Andiamore his Florence was the fastest out of goal of all the players. As the seven-man field exited the chute, Carmouche regained Andiamo a Firenze, allowing Lugan Knight to take command and mark the opening quarter mile in 23.41 seconds on a good main track.
Arctic Arrogance with Jose Lescano tracked second from outside Lugan Knight. General his bunker tried to gain a position on the backstretch, but Long Narciso on his shot ran up sharply just after his Dalí and in 47.70 seconds he settled behind the pack half a mile later.
As the field rounded the turn, Lescano demanded more from Arctic Arrogans. He found himself on an equal footing with Lugan Knight at the top of the lane.
The pair quickly pulled away from the rest of their rivals and fought ferociously down the lane with both horses at full power as they passed the eighth pole. forward and managed to fend off his opponent by half a length with a final time of 1:37.77.
Swinging wide under André Worley and rebounding well, General Bunker moved another seven lengths back in third. The neural network has perfected the superfector. Andiamo a Firenze, Narciso Dali and Valenzan Day rounded out the final standings. I went around the drain and it was scratched.
McCarthy said Lugan Knight’s trip gave him confidence that he would win the stretch battle.
“I was happy the horse was broken,” said McCarthy. “He was noticeable early on and still seemed to run a bit around the turns. Seeing how well he dug down the lane, I wasn’t surprised. Seemed to go a little better than the horse. You don’t want to say confident but he always seemed to keep the horse at bay. Just a tough horse and a gutsy performance I was happy to see him earn miles.”
Davis said Lugan Knight made his best progress despite the lackluster break.
“He’s not the best, he beat OK,” Davis said. “But he eventually found a bit of a rhythm and was able to establish a lead. Once I got there, he was very comfortable with my outside challenges as well. I really thought (arctic arrogance) was going to come up to him and overtake him, but he didn’t give up.He really did around that last eighth mile. It opened my eyes a little bit.I was impressed with that run.”
It was Lugan Knight’s second career win, his first over a winner, and added his second first-scoring sprint over 6 1/2 furlongs in October at Keeneland. He entered Jerome from a close third-place effort in the optional claim over six furlongs at Churchill Downs on 26 November. That saw him recover four wide from five lengths off the pace, one and a half lengths shy of the winning Victory formation.
Now that Lugan Knight has proven his ability in the 1-mile, McCarthy said he could turn his attention to the Wizards (G3) in the 1 1/8 mile on February 4 in the Big A. 4-2 Kentucky Derby Qualifying Points.
“Let’s see,” said McCarthy. “I’ll have to call Dylan and hear what he thinks and then move on from there. One mile was a question mark for me, but it looks like he passed that test today. We’ll have to see. .”
Lugan Knight, whose second dam is Canadian champion filly Roxy Gap, earned $82,500 in Saturday’s win and maintained a perfect on-the-board record of 4:2-1-1. He returned his $9.10 for his $2 wager.
Linda Rice, trainer of Chester and Mary Broman’s New York homebreed Arctic Arrogans, said Frosted’s son could be given a more visible trip on his next outing.
“I took a break from work in the middle, so the horse was a little heavy, but it ran well,” Rice said. “[Rezcano]and I were just talking. Next time I’m going to put him in the lead. He’s going to fight at the front. Today he didn’t go by. I think it might have something to do with it.”
Arctic Arrogance finished second at Aqueduct in December with Remsen (G2) over nine furlongs and may continue New York’s way to the Kentucky Derby at the Wizards.
“He didn’t win, but he gave a great performance,” Rice said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re going to the next race. Like Mr. Broman and I discussed, he’ll do one race at a time and see how far he can go.”
