True Valour Emerges Victorious in City of Hope Mile
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Photo: Benoit Photo
True Valour edges his competition by a head to win the City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita Park
Qatar Racing Limited's True Valour added a second graded stakes score in the U.S. to his growing résumé Oct. 5, when he upset the $202,106 City of Hope Mile (G2T) at Santa Anita Park in a blanket photo finish.
Sent off at final odds of 16-1 under Drayden Van Dyke, the Simon Callaghan trainee broke on top before settling mid pack to allow Kingly to take the lead followed by Restrainedvengence.
The leading pair maintained their front-running positions throughout most of the race as Kingly set fractions of :22.58, :45.50, and 1:09.04 for six furlongs. Tracking the pace just off the rail in fifth, True Valour was guided out to the four path at the top of the stretch and urged forward. Kingly and Restraindvengence refused to yield and were soon joined by Prince Earl and True Valour—widest of all—who drew on even terms to challenge in deep stretch.
Coming under a hard drive, True Valour managed to edge his competition by a head at the wire and was declared the winner following photo finish. Final time for the mile was 1:32.82 on a firm turf course. Restrainedvengence took second, a nose in front of Prince Earl. It was another short head back to Kingly in fourth.
"Simon told me to keep him covered up, that's the main thing," said Van Dyke. "If he sees daylight, he gets aggressive, which he was early. From there, I just tried to find a path and someone to follow. I knew I had won, they (the placing judges) were trying to figure out who was second and third."
True Valour returned $35.80, $16.20, and $7 on a $2 wager.
The City of Hope was the second consecutive stakes score for True Valour and his first race since February when he took the Thunder Road Stakes (G3T) by a half-length at Santa Anita.
"He's such a cool horse he always comes up and shows a big showing. It was nice to get the head bob today," said Callaghan. "He had some time off after the Thunder Road stakes (Feb. 9) due to some minor bone bruising and we wanted to give him some time off. We felt we had him really fit today. He was pretty fresh early, he pulled Drayden early, gave him a perfect ride, he sprinted quick to the front, and it worked out well. He needs to play his cards where they lay and Drayden certainly did that."
Callaghan said the 5-year-old's connections could possibly point the horse towards a start in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
"Qatar (Racing) may want to go for the Breeders' Cup Mile, it's here and he's shown a pretty good affinity for the track as far as his last two races," said Callaghan. "It will be tougher but they might want to take a shot."
Bred in Ireland by Mr. P. O'Rourke, True Valour is the first foal out of the Acclamation mare Sutton Veny. He was purchased for $112,030 by David Redvers from the consignment of Tally Ho Stud to the 2016 Goresbridge Flat Breeze-Up Sale. Sutton Veny has a yearling full sister to True Valour and foaled a filly by Caravaggio March 14.
Campaigned in Europe through his first 14 starts by Qatar Racing and trained John P. Murtagh, the son of Kodiac was transferred to Callaghan's barn in Southern California in July 2018 after winning the Ballycorus Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown a month earlier. His win in the City of Hope improved his record to 5-2-6 from 19 starts with earnings of $355,122.