Sunday, September 15, 2002
Pure Prize wins Kentucky Cup Classic
Baffert horses sweep juvenile races
By George Rorrer
Enquirer contributor
Pure Prize won the $400,000 Kentucky Cup Classic, but 2-year-old Vindication stole the show Saturday at Turfway Park.
Pure Prize, a 4-year-old trained by Shug McGaughey, rallied in mid-stretch to win the Grade II Classic, one of jockey Mike Smith's three graded-stakes wins.
Pure Prize finished three-quarters of a length in front of a fast-closing Dollar Bill. Hero's Tribute was third, another 2 lengths back.
“Shug said to keep him close because when he drops out of it, he lags,” Smith said. “So before the race, I took him away from the pony and zipped him back and forth a couple of times to sharpen him up.”
Abreeze, the 2-1 favorite, battled There's Zealous on the lead for a mile before both tired in mid-stretch. Abreeze held on for fourth.
Trainer Bob Baffert swept the two races for 2-year-olds. Vindication won the Juvenile for colts, and Atlantic Ocean took the Juvenile Fillies. Both were ridden by Smith.
Vindication beat Private Gold by 6 lengths to win the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes. Vindication had to do a sidestep to get away from the gate after Crowned King unseated jockey Chandra Rennie.
Riderless, Crowned King ran with the leaders most of the way but was judged to have not interfered with any of his rivals.
Smith said Vindication ducked in when Crowned King stumbled, but it turned out to be a good thing.
“Otherwise I think I might have stepped on the fallen rider,” he said. “So we found ourselves out last and I had to switch to Plan B. When I shook him up a little, he just took off. Every race this horse runs, every workout he has, is even better than the last one.”
Baffert said his goal was to give his 2-year-old colt, who has decisively won his first three starts, a chance to perform in adversity.
After he saw the break, Baffert said, “I said, "Well, we got our adversity.'
“I was watching the race on television, and he was completely off the screen,” Baffert said, “so I figured we'd see what he was made of today. He made a quick move kind of like Point Given did when he won this race two years ago.”
Vindication's next move? Obvious possibilities include the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championship Classic on Oct.26 and, maybe, the 2003 Triple Crown races.
Pat Day rode winners in two of the Grade III stakes - McGaughey-trained Trip in the $200,000 Turfway Breeders' Cup, and Day Trader in the $150,000 Sprint.
Attendance was 9,810, fifth-best of the nine times Turfway has hosted the event.
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Pure Prize wins Kentucky Cup Classic