Leinster Follows Shakertown Victory With Woodford Score
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Photo: Rick Samuels
Leinster outlasts Extravagant Kid in the Woodford Stakes at Keeneland
Unlike four other stakes at Keeneland Oct. 3, the $150,000 Woodford Stakes Presented by TVG (G2T) was not a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" prep, but Leinster is pointed to the Breeders' Cup regardless.
By winning the 5 1/2-furlong turf dash over the same course and distance as the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), Leinster left his connections little doubt that he belongs in the race. After pressing the pace, he inched away for a half-length score over Extravagant Kid, the only horse to beat Leinster in three starts this year.
Extravagant Kid rallied from sixth, finishing three-quarters of a length in front of Just Might in third.
The winner, a 5-year-old Majestic Warrior horse, completed the distance on a firm course in 1:01.59 under Luis Saez, paying $7.80 as the narrow favorite in the field of nine.
"We had a perfect position, and I had a lot of horse. He just took off,” Saez said.
The Rusty Arnold trainee was the public choice with reason. In his previous start, Leinster set a Keeneland course record by racing 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:00.86 in the Shakertown Stakes (G2T) during the track's short July meet. That day, he just lasted over stablemate Totally Boss, who will have to miss the Turf Sprint due to a physical setback, Arnold said.
Leinster seems to be thriving, perhaps with more in the tank this year than in 2019, when he settled for seventh in the Turf Sprint at Santa Anita Park. That race marked his eighth race of 2019; he has made just three starts in 2020.
"He was probably over-raced a little bit last year," Arnold said. "At the end of the year, I think that the last two weren't as good. He's a fresh horse now."
Leinster and his connections after his Woodford score
Racing for Amy Dunne, Brenda Miley, Westrock Stables, and Jean Wilkinson, Leinster improved his earnings to $614,211 with a record of 5-6-4 from 22 starts. He was bred in Kentucky by Gryphon Investments out of the Royal Academy mare Vassar and is a half brother to two-time Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Stormy Liberal.
Leinster was a $75,000 RNA at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale as part of the Wavertree Stables consignment after his owners bought him as a yearling, Miley said.
Dunne and her husband, Ciaran, operate Wavertree. Their daughter, Caitlin, was on hand to witness the victory. She recalled how excited her father was when it was decided to race him.
"This horse is his passion. This is his 'heart' horse. He loves him so much, and my mom, too," she said. "So getting to be here and represent them when he runs like this, it's like the best feeling in the world."