Solid Work on Soft Turf for Grand Arch
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Grand Arch works at Keeneland Oct. 25.
Grand Arch, a top U.S. contender for the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT), appeared to glide over a soft Keeneland turf course Oct. 25 going four furlongs in an easy :50 4/5.
"We were happy on that kind of footing because everyone else seemed to be laboring through it," said trainer Brian Lynch after the work. "He looked good going around, ears were pricked as he was galloping out. He's a happy horse. He went especially good the way they had the dogs positioned today."
Course markers funneled horses working on the turf down the middle of the course.
In the saddle for the work was Marco Romero, who used to work for the late Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham and is in Lexington with California trainer Neil Drysdale.
"He was available and we were lucky to get him," Lynch said of having Romero for the work.
The 6-year-old gelded son of Arch , owned by Jim and Susan Hill, will be making his seventh start at Keeneland in the Mile. His record at the Lexington track is three wins and three seconds, with four of those starts being made at a mile.
This year Grand Arch started the racing season with a win in a one-mile allowance race on the grass at Keeneland. He comes into the Breeders' Cup off victories in the Fourstardave Handicap (gr. IIT) at Saratoga and the Oct. 3 Shadwell Turf Mile (gr. IT) at Keeneland on a yielding course.
"He likes this racetrack and he likes this surface, and the soft going didn't bother him in the Shadwell," said Lynch, when asked about the forecast for more rain on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Wednesday, Oct. 28. "I think you have to respect the European horses. Last year's winner Karakontie, Impassable, and Mondialiste, who was bred by the breeders of Goldikova."
Alain and Gerard Wertheimer bred Mondialiste, who has won his last three starts, including the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT). The 5-year-old son of Galileo is owned by Geoff and Sandra Turnbull and trained by David O'Meara.
The Wertheimers' also have two homebred fillies entered in the Mile: multiple group II winner Impassable, a 3-year-old daughter of Invincible Spirit, and group I-placed Bawina, a 4-year-old daughter of Dubawi. Both fillies are trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias.
The Wertheimers' homebred Goldikova is the only horse to have won three Breeders' Cup races, having taken the Mile in 2008-2010.