- \n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mercante-e1756931048504.jpg\")
<\/dt>\n- Jockey Joe Ramos showed Mercante his appreciation after they won Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Arlington Stakes. <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
FRANKLIN \u2014\u00a0Carl Pollard\u2019s 5-year-old gelding Mercante, one of the favorites in Saturday\u2019s $2.5 million KTDF Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational (G2) at Kentucky Downs, transitioned on Kentucky Derby Day from Cinderella story to legitimate contender every time he runs.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Mercante nearly pulled off an upset in the $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs, leading in the final furlong before finishing second by three-quarters of a length to favored Spirit of St Louis.<\/p>\n
Spirit of St Louis, who runs in Saturday\u2019s $2.5 million FanDuel TV Mint Millions Invitational (G3) on Kentucky Downs\u2019 FanDuel TV U.S. Open Turf Championships card, is trained by Chad Brown, his large stable well-populated with Grade 1 turf winners. Mercante is one of four horses \u2014 only two currently racing \u2014 trained by Brian Knippenberg, who is also the long-time farm manager at Hermitage Farm outside of Louisville. Knippenberg manages the dual careers with his racehorses minutes away at Tyrone Training Center (formerly Skylight) in Oldham County.<\/p>\n
After a 16-month layoff, Mercante won a pair of allowance races while racing in anonymity at Turfway Park over the winter. The gelding and Knippenberg jumped into the spotlight when they won the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Classic on the Jeff Ruby Steaks undercard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little different now. We\u2019ve sort of shifted from Cinderella story to expectations,\u201d Knippenberg said by phone with a laugh. \u201cWhich is a little bit stressful, but it\u2019s all because the horse has earned us that expectation. It\u2019s really exciting. Obviously, he owes us nothing. So even taking a swing at a huge race like this is still pretty low pressure and a lot of fun. We\u2019re having a blast doing all this. But the degree of expectation has certainly ticked up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall of Famer Bill Mott \u2014 trainer of reigning Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Travers Stakes winner Sovereignty \u2014 was Mercante\u2019s original trainer at the racetrack. However, in his work at Hermitage, Knippenberg gave Mercante his earliest pre-race training and also had him when he was laid up with swelling in an ankle that kept flaring up, even as the horse showed no sign of lameness. Knippenberg said Mott suggested sending Mercante to Dr. Wes Sutter at Kentucky Equine Hospital in nearby Simpsonville.<\/p>\n
It turned out \u201cto be a thing called the manica,\u201d Knippenberg said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little C-shaped piece of the anatomy. The two big tendons in the forelimb, they\u2019re not connecting to it. They\u2019re basically a guide, like the \u2018keeper\u2019 on a bridle, essentially. The manica had actually gotten a rough edge on it, so it kept rubbing, and the tendon would fill up all the time. The horse was never lame or anything, but it was swollen, and you don\u2019t want to mess with a swollen horse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were finally able to ultrasound him while he was actually swollen, Dr. Sutter saw this, and he was able to clean the rough edge off. The tendon was uninjured; it was just being irritated by this little device that holds it in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knippenberg admitted that he\u2019d never heard of the manica. \u201cI had to Google it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve actually told some other veterinarians about it, and they\u2019re like, \u2018I\u2019ve got to go back to my anatomy book.\u2019 Hat\u2019s off to (Sutter) for solving that mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knippenberg was getting Mercante prepared to return to Mott, a process where progress would be tempered by setbacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just got to taking forever,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d put a lot of time and effort into the horse, so I just asked Mr. Pollard, \u2018What about letting me take a crack at this nice horse?\u2019 And he said yes.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 All through that, Mr. Pollard stood by me and stood by the horse. It\u2019s wonderful for Carl Pollard. I feel like this horse deserves to be a great horse with all he\u2019s been through. In my mind, he\u2019s a great horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pollard spent a decade as Churchill Downs\u2019 chairman of the board and owned Hermitage Farm from 1995, following the death of Hermitage Farm\u2019s iconic owner and close friend Warner L. Jones Jr., until selling it in 2010 to Louisville power couple Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown.<\/p>\n
Mercante is the last foal of Pollard\u2019s 2000 Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and 2-year-old champion Caressing. His sire is 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner. Neither horse ran on turf. Mercante gives Mott credit for originally putting Mercante on turf back in 2023 after a trio of subpar dirt races. Racing in New York, Mercante won a maiden race and was third in two allowance races before being sidelined. In his first start for Knippenberg, on Nov. 2, 2024, he was a very close third at 20-1 in a Churchill Downs turf allowance before his racing moved on to Turfway\u2019s synthetic surface.<\/p>\n
The Old Forester Turf Classic proved Mercante was a top turf horse and not just a synthetic specialist.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just stayed in the paddock and watched the Turf Classic,\u201d Knippenberg said. \u201cI don\u2019t know who was standing behind us, but somebody said, \u2018OMG!\u2019 behind me when we hit the top of the lane. And that\u2019s how it felt, like he might actually do this. That kind of cemented this was all legitimate. And, of course, answering that with the Arlington win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercante captured Churchill Downs\u2019 Grade 3 Arlington Stakes in late May after a stretch duel with heavy favorite Brilliant Berti, last year\u2019s Gun Runner winner at Kentucky Downs and who runs in the Mint Millions. \u201cThat solidified this is really happening, and he\u2019s really this good,\u201d Knippenberg said.<\/p>\n
Mercante is the 5-1 second choice with Arlington Million winner Fort Washington in Nick Tammaro\u2019s morning line for the 1 1\/2-mile Kentucky Turf Cup. The 4-1 favorite is 2024 winner Grand Sonata, who was second in the G1 Arlington Million at Colonial Downs. Regular rider Joe Ramos, who is among the leading riders at Horseshoe Indianapolis, will be back aboard Mercante.<\/p>\n
Though Mercante finished fourth as the favorite in Ellis Park\u2019s $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Mint Millions on Aug. 2 \u2014 checking in a total of 1 3\/4 lengths behind longshot Beach Gold \u2014 his 99 Bris speed figure was among the highest of his career (topped by the 107 in his winning stakes debut in the Kentucky Cup Classic).<\/p>\n
Mercante had scratched from Churchill Downs\u2019 G2 Wise Dan after \u201cfeeling a little cruddy for a few days,\u201d Knippenberg said. \u201cWe were essentially coming into the Ellis race off a layoff. I think it still served its purpose in that we got a race in him, and really it\u2019s probably the fastest race he\u2019s ever run. He\u2019s a little bit guilty of this, but in that race he was sort of racing the horse next to him but not racing the field. He does kind of like to eyeball the horse next to him. It was a crazy fast race. It was just a few ticks off the North American record for a mile on the grass.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of stinks not getting your picture taken after such a big performance, but I think it served its purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knippenberg said it was a tough decision whether to go in the 1 1\/2-mile Turf Cup or the FanDuel TV Mint Millions at a mile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe distance in both those races is a limiting factor for him,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to go a mile in 1:31 again like we did at Ellis. We\u2019ve been working with him to relax off the pace, like in the Arlington, when he relaxed off sort of a slow pace. We\u2019ve been giving him long, slow gallops to get him off the bridle a little bit. I just picked the spot I thought gave us the best chance. There are some other horses that like to get to the lead in long races like that. If he can flank a horse and relax, I think he\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knippenberg, who began working at Hermitage in 1997, has trained racehorses along with his farm work dating back to 2003, when he had one starter that earned $45. Since then, his small stable has regularly hit the board in races, including in 2020 when he went 1 for 29 but had nine seconds and six thirds. This is easily his best year, his eight wins (out of only 14 starts) his most in a season, with the purse earnings of $671,878 marking his first time in six figures. While most of that is Mercante, the barn also features the Knippenberg-owned Sassy and Bold, a five-time winner out of eight starts in 2025.<\/p>\n
A Kentucky-bred winner of the Kentucky Turf Cup \u2014 which 10 of the stakes\u2019 11 entrants would be, including Mercante \u2014 will earn about $1.5 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe, hard to imagine,\u201d Knippenberg said. \u201cYou do the math on back through the field, even, and it\u2019s lucrative to go down there and take a crack. You get well-paid for splitting the field. Nobody goes down there to split the field, but it makes it an easy decision. If you\u2019re going to try stretching him out this far, that\u2019s the place to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kentucky Turf Cup winner also gets a fees-paid spot in the $5 million Longines Breeders\u2019 Cup Turf (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 1 as part of the Breeders\u2019 Cup\u2019s \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d Challenge Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere again, we\u2019ve gone from hoping the horse can get back to the races to wild expectations,\u201d Knippenberg said. \u201cI don\u2019t ever think past the upcoming race. But obviously it has those kinds of implications.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercante goes from Cinderella to expectation to a favorite in G2 Kentucky Turf Cup Published 3:32 pm Wednesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-395571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115142539618891051","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}