Welch Racing’s Epic Ride on Saturday morning made the short trip from The Thoroughbred Center for a test run over the Keeneland turf course and a possible start in next Saturday’s $1.25-million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1).
“I just want to see how he likes it and how (jockey) Edgar (Morales) liked it,” trainer John Ennis said prior to sending 4-year-old Blame colt out onto the course that was rated as good.
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Working solo, Epic Ride covered three-eighths of a mile in :38.60 with Morales all smiles coming off the track.
“I never asked him,” said Morales, who has ridden Epic Ride in his past two races and would have the mount in the Turf Mile.
“He looked good to me,” Ennis said. “That made my day. I would hate to have to race against him.”
In April, Epic Ride worked on the Keeneland turf before Ennis opted to run him on the dirt in the Commonwealth (G3). His past three races have been on the grass with the past two coming at a mile.
“He’s a different horse on grass,” Ennis said of Epic Ride, winner of the FanDuel TV Mint Millions Invitational (G3) Sept. 6 at Kentucky Downs. “He ran third to Sierra Leone (in the 2024 Toyota Blue Grass (G1) on dirt and he has improved on the grass.”
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Epic Ride, who was 14th in the Kentucky Derby (G1), will return again to Keeneland from across town next Saturday morning for the Coolmore Turf Mile as he tries for his first victory at the highest level.
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Sep 27, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.