Zulu Kingdom, unraced since Aug. 1 and facing older horses for the first time, wasted no time getting back into the game on Friday at Keeneland. Making a clear, comfortable lead right out of the gate under Flavien Prat, Zulu Kingdom never faced a serious threat winning the Grade 1, $650,000 Maker’s Mark Mile by three-quarters of a length.
Fittingly, the victory made Chad Brown the 25th North American trainer to notch at least 3,000 winners. Brown began the day with 2,998, won a race at Aqueduct, and then really showed off his training chops with Zulu Kingdom.
Zulu Kingdom has done little but win races throughout his career, crossing the finish line first in eight of nine starts, though in his final race last year, the Hall of Fame, he took a very controversial disqualification for causing interference into the first turn.
Brown took Zulu Kingdom to his winter base at Payson Park and had him trained to the minute for his long-layoff comeback. Zulu Kingdom, Brown said earlier this week, can become a little too aggressive breezing in company, so Brown put the colt through a series of strong solo drills and had Zulu Kingdom plenty ready.
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The Maker's Mark drew 13 entrants but, somewhat incredibly, went with a seven-runner field after scratches. Deterministic, a multiple Grade 1 winner who also hasn’t raced since August, was among those taken out, as were all the race’s pace players, primarily Bear River and Wolfie’s Dynaghost.
“When I saw all the scratches this morning, it sure changed the dynamic of the race,” Prat said. “He’s naturally fast, so [going to the lead] was one of the options, for sure.”
Zulu Kingdom broke well, had a very good first few strides, and within the first 50 yards was controlling the tempo – a slow one, too, for turf milers of this quality. In hand and relaxed, Zulu Kingdom went his first quarter-mile in 23.89 seconds and the half in an extremely manageable 47.71.
Aomori City raced in closest attendance to the leader but never applied any real pressure, though he crept within three-quarters of a length early on the far turn. Prat let Zulu Kingdom out just a half notch going to the three-furlong marker midway around the bend and got low in the saddle as his mount cut the corner past the quarter-pole and into the homestretch. Zulu Kingdom, even before changing leads at the three-sixteenths marker, surged forward to open several lengths.
The closers started gaining past the furlong grounds, but Zulu Kingdom, getting his final furlong in 11.94, fended them all off.
“He was very brave,” Prat said. “Honestly, I felt very comfortable on the lead, and he gave me a good run turning for home. Obviously, he’d been off for a long time, and I knew he was going to be a bit tired late, so I kept him busy.”
One Stripe, racing midpack and saving ground every inch of the way, came up the fence and edged Rhetorical for second. Thirteenth last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the Graham Motion-trained South African import nearly won the Pegasus World Cup Turf in his most recent start and appears to have established himself as a major factor in the division.
Rhetorical, making his first start since a fourth in the BC Mile, got very fractious in the starting gate and did not run as well as he had winning the Grade 1 Turf Mile last fall at Keeneland. He came with a run in upper stretch but could not sustain it while finishing a half-length behind One Stripe and a half-length in front of fourth-place Notable Speech.
The race was a disaster – relatively speaking – for Notable Speech, the odds-on favorite off his smart Breeders’ Cup Mile score at the end of his 2025 campaign. Shipped from England along with Aomori City by trainer Charlie Appleby, Notable Speech suffered through a nightmare trip – much of it owing to the presence of his stablemate.
Breaking somewhat flat-footed under William Buick, Notable Speech raced last going onto the backstretch, whereupon Buick began moving forward, trying to establish a better position. A traveling assistant for Appleby asserted earlier this week that Aomori City could help ensure a fair pace, but the horse, as often has been the case, broke terribly, and while he ranged up to stalk Zulu Kingdom, he never made the leader work at all.
Meanwhile, Buick found himself in the No. 2 path down the backstretch and into the far turn, caught in a claustrophobic spot. Briefly, at the five-sixteenths marker, it looked like he might find a way outside, but instead had his path totally blocked by a one-paced Aomori City. Notable Speech got locked behind rivals until he’d passed the sixteenth pole, accelerating immediately when finally clear, much too late to catch Zulu Kingdom.
Zulu Kingdom paid $12.08 as the third choice and got his mile over firm going in 1:34.90. Bred in Ireland, the colt – by Ten Sovereigns out of Zindziswa, by Smart Strike – made one start in France for trainer Andre Fabre before coming to America. He campaigns for Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss, and Michael Caruso.
Chad Brown trains the colt. Winner 3,000 – a Grade 1 off an eight-month layoff. Perfect.
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