It took the 4-year-old turf sprinter Bear River 11 tries to finish first in a race. He’s got the hang of it now. Winning for the third time in his last five outings, Bear River ran the race of his life going wire to wire in the $2 million Turf Sprint on Saturday at Kentucky Downs.
It was a huge score for jockey James Graham, who’s having his lowest-earning year since 2003, when he first rode in America, as well as for trainer Keith Desormeaux, who in this one race roughly doubled his stable earnings for the year.
Howard Wolowitz, the even-money favorite, raced in the pocket for much of this 6 1/2-furlong contest and could not find a way out in the homestretch until jockey Irad Ortiz dove back to the fence inside the final furlong. Howard Wolowitz closed ground but fell a half-length short of Bear River, who was not stopping while winning for the first time at a distance beyond 5 1/2 furlongs. Khaadem, the 9-year-old England-based horse who finished second in this race a year ago, got third by a nose over Arrest Me Red.
Bear River, who paid $40.30 as the seventh choice, set splits of 22.42 seconds and 44.69 on the way to running six furlongs in a course record 1:06.91, the second course record of the day on a track playing impossibly fast during the first two days of the meet.
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Winner of the Ellis Park prep for this race in his most recent start, Bear River now has automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint since the Grade 2 Turf Sprint is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series. That five-furlong race with a short stretch might suit him even better than six furlongs with a long one.
That said, the Turf Sprint came up surprisingly short on true early speed and Graham put Bear River right onto the lead, the filly Pipsy tracking him around the race’s one turn. Pipsy and the other pace presser, Nobals, could find nothing more in the final quarter as Bear River opened up and then held on bravely while turning back the favorite.
Bear River campaigns for owner Charles Marquis, who acquired the gelding for $50,000 at a 2-year-old-in-training sale. Bred in Kentucky by Dreamfields Farm, Don Brady, and Brendan Burke, Bear River, a ridgeling, is a son of Flameaway and the Midshipman mare Sixtyfivenorth. He did clear the maiden ranks in his sixth start, but only after being promoted from second via a disqualification, but Bear River needed plenty of time to figure out how to deploy his ample speed. He began his career two summers ago at Del Mar and could be headed back there again this fall.
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