Maker Loaded With Five in Kentucky Cup Classic

Trainer Mike Maker is loaded in the $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes being run March 25 at Turfway Park with five of the 12 entries in the body of the field for the 1 1/8-mile listed stakes on the all-weather main track. He even has a sixth entry, Richiesgotgame , on the also-eligible list.

He'll be saddling Ocean Atlantique  who has been assigned the highweight of 124 pounds in the race for 4-year-olds and up; 

Ocean Atlantique, a 6-year-old gelded son of American Pharoah   raced by Kirk Wycoff's Three Diamonds Farm, comes into the Kentucky Cup in sharp form. He won his first two starts of the year at Turfway Park and most recently captured the 1 1/16-mile Dust Commander Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths and earned a 123 Equibase Speed Figure for the performance.

A highly regarded 2-year-old, Ocean Atlantique sold for €1.1 million (US$1,235,850) to top the 2019 Arqana Breeze Up Sale in Deauville. He won a stakes at Deauville and was runner-up in the Prix la Force (G3) at ParisLongchamp but was eventually offered at Fasig-Tipton's 2021 July Horses of Racing Age Sale where Wycoff bought him for $180,000. Since running for Three Diamonds, the gelding has earned $196,836.

Ocean Atlantique will start from post 8 with Walter Rodriguez, who guided him to victory in the Dust Commander.

Mike Maker will also saddle Nice Guys Stables' King Cause , assigned 120 pounds for the race, who will break from post 10 under Gerardo Corrales. The 8-year-old gelded son of Creative Cause   won last year's Kentucky Cup Classic in gate-to-wire fashion by three-quarters of a length.

Since that race, King Cause won the Knickerbocker Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack. He comes into the Kentucky Cup off a start in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T), in which he stalked the pace in second for a mile and then faded to sixth in the stretch.

The other starters from Maker's barn include Jeff Drown and Don Rachel's Founder , a 5-year-old Upstart   ridgling; Paradise Farms and David Staudacher's Leblon , a 5-year-old Broken Vow gelding; and, Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable's grade 2 winner Fancy Liquor , a 6-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky  . All three of these starters have won at Turfway Park in late December or January and have been assigned 120 pounds.

Maker said circumstances contributed to his depth in Saturday's race, with both Founder and Leblon returning Saturday after an allowance optional claimer in which they were to race this winter was canceled due to weather. Other entries suited the conditions.

Leblon is off to the best start this year among these three. He won at 1 1/16 miles at Turfway Jan. 7 and followed with a third in a one-mile allowance optional claimer Jan. 27. He has two wins, a second, and third racing at Turfway and has won at 1 1/8 miles but that was back in 2020 when he got his first win. He will break from post 4 with Umberto Rispoli aboard.

Fancy Liquor won his 2023 debut Jan. 4 in an allowance optional claimer and then ran fifth in the Dust Commander. The horse has been lightly raced since he was 3, when he won the American Turf Stakes (G2T) and placed in four other stakes on his way to earning nearly $500,000 in 2020. He does have the third-highest ESF at Turfway in the field at 110. Fancy Liquor is in post 6 and will be ridden by Joseph Talamo.

"Ocean Atlantique has had a good winter up there, winning the Dust Commander, so that was a no-brainer," Maker said. "King Cause won it last year. He was a no brainer. And Fancy Liquor is kind of in the same spot with limited opportunities to run."

After racing primarily in New York with other trainers, Founder came to Maker in November last year. He won his first start with the trainer Dec. 28 at Turfway in a one-mile allowance race, his first win since July 2021. He next ran fifth in a Jan. 25 allowance optional claimer also at a mile. He has never won at 1 1/8 miles, finishing 10th in his only start at the trip, but he's finished fourth going 1 1/2 miles and at 1 3/8 miles. He will leave from post 2 and be ridden by Joseph Ramos.

Entering the Kentucky Cup on a four-race winning streak at Woodbine is Frank Taylor, BlackRidge Stables, Deters Company, James Keogh, and Michael McCabe's Wentru , a 5-year-old gelding by Tourist  , who was recently put with trainer Will Walden. Wentru has won from seven furlongs to 1 1/2 miles on synthetic and turf since Sept. 3. His previous start was a gate-to-wire win in the 12-furlong Valedictory Stakes (G3) in a dead heat with multiple graded stakes winner Who's the Star . The gelding will carry 120 pounds and rider Jack Gilligan. They will break from post 3.