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\n Grand Sonata edged Highway Robber to win last year’s Kentucky Turf Cup under Tyler Gaffalione. (GRACE CLARK-SWEET) <\/p>\n
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\n Fort Washington wins Colonial Downs’ Arlington Million under Junior Alvarado. (JULIE CLARKE \/ Coady Media) <\/p>\n
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FRANKLIN \u2013 The Todd Pletcher-trained Grand Sonata could become only the third horse to win Kentucky Downs\u2019 $2.5 million KTDF Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational twice when he goes to the post in the 1 1\/2-mile, Grade 2 stakes on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Grand Sonata in last year\u2019s victory, will be aboard in the field of 11 older horses. They are the 4-1 favorite in the morning line.<\/p>\n
The last time there was a repeat winner was Da Big Hoss in 2015-16. The first to pull off the parlay was Rochester in 2002-03, the second coming via disqualification of first-place finisher Art Variety for interference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a hard race to win,\u201d said Todd Quast, general manager and racing manager for Mandy Pope\u2019s Whisper Hill Farm, owner and breeder of Grand Sonata. \u201cWith the mile-and-a-half, anything can happen, and usually does. But he is such a cool horse. He tries every time. He and Tyler have a great chemistry, especially at Kentucky Downs. Very excited about it. It was a great race last year, and he\u2019s really probably in better form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grand Sonata comes into the Turf Cup off a pair of good seconds in Colonial Downs\u2019 G1 Arlington Million (won by Turf Cup 5-1 co-second choice Fort Washington) and Monmouth Park\u2019s United Nations (G2). He started his season with a second by ahead in Gulfstream Park\u2019s Mac Diarmida (G2) and a close sixth in Keeneland\u2019s Elkhorn (G2), where the 1-3 finishers were Turf Cup entrants Utah Beach and Anglophile. In between was a throw-out eighth place by 89 lengths in Saratoga\u2019s Belmont Gold Cup taken off the turf and run in the slop.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year he didn\u2019t run very well in the Sword Dancer (finishing fifth), and we came back in two weeks because the turf was kind of soft up there,\u201d Quast said of the Saratoga grass course. \u201cAnd he won the race at Kentucky Downs. This year, his last few races, he just barely got beat. Didn\u2019t get as good a trip as the winners. Hopefully we can turn the tables on them. Hats off to Fort Washington in winning the Arlington Million. We\u2019re hoping we can take the home-court advantage there and use Tyler.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose races are so tactical, and everything just has to come out right. The thing about him is that he just tries hard every time. He is not a win machine. Even though he\u2019s won a lot of money, everything has to go right. But he\u2019s training super, his weight is great. He\u2019s a happy horse, loves what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grand Sonata has been ridden by 10 different jockeys, but Gaffalione has been aboard for all five of his wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really happy with the way he ran in his last race,\u201d Gaffalione said of the Arlington Million. \u201cI thought we had it won, and that horse came running on the outside. He gave me a really good run that day, and he did everything I asked. He\u2019s one of those horses that show up every time. So we\u2019re hoping for a little luck, he likes the track here, so we\u2019re excited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really proud of him in last year\u2019s race. We\u2019ve had a long relationship, and I was really happy to get it done that day. Especially for Miss Mandy Pope. She\u2019s been a great supporter of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grand Sonata is 5-9-2 in 31 lifetime starts, earning $2,440,935. One of those seconds came in the Nashville Derby (then called the Dueling Grounds Derby). He is representative of a group of horses racing at Kentucky Downs: well-bred turf horses with consistent records and fat bankrolls who continue to race as 5- and 6-year-olds and older. This is in addition to the geldings racing, such as Turf Cup co-second choice Mercante.<\/p>\n
A son of Medaglia d\u2019Oro out of A.P. Sonata, Grand Sonata\u2019s female family has produced graded stakes-winners such as Kentucky Oaks winner and champion Abel Tasman, Ballerina d\u2019Oro and Wilburn, as well as Snow Face Princess, who races in Sunday\u2019s Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs.<\/p>\n
If American breeders tend to prefer more speed in their stallions, Quast said that having these big-money races for turf marathoners makes keeping them at the track appealing and often profitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he can win on Saturday, it\u2019s $1.4 million to the winner,\u201d he said. Which would boost his bankroll to almost $4 million. \u201cThat would be a great thing to have,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cThe other thing is, this horse just loves to train. He\u2019s a very sound horse, and he loves the battle. Anything can happen in these races, but I think we\u2019re set pretty well. I\u2019d love for him to be one of the ones who can do a repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fort Washington tackles 1 1\/2 miles in KY Turf Cup<\/strong><\/p>\n Trainer Shug McGaughey wasn\u2019t sure that Magic Cap Stables\u2019 Fort Washington could win at 1 1\/4 miles when he ran him in Colonial Downs\u2019 $1 million Arlington Million. After the 6-year-old horse\u2019s late-running victory, McGaughey now is ready to try him at 1 1\/2 miles in Saturday\u2019s $2.5 million KTDF Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational at Kentucky Downs.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course we were very pleased with the Arlington Million,\u201d the New York-based McGaughey said by phone. \u201cI had wondered whether he wanted to run that far or not. He\u2019s trained every bit as good as he did going up to the Arlington Million, and he\u2019d trained going up to that race as good as a horse could train. So we\u2019ll see how he travels and looking forward to running him.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cFrom the Arlington Million until now is the best he\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n The timing is perfect, given the $2.5 million purse that Kentucky-breds such as Fort Washington run for matches Saturday\u2019s $2.5 million FanDuel TV Mint Millions as the most lucrative for older horses in North America outside the $5 million Longines Breeders\u2019 Cup Turf (G1). The Kentucky Turf Cup winner gets a fees-paid berth in the Breeders\u2019 Cup as part of the Breeders\u2019 Cup\u2019s \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d Challenge Series.<\/p>\n Fort Washington closed from last of seven in the Arlington Million to win by a half-length over 2024 Kentucky Turf Cup winner Grand Sonata. Finishing third as the odds-on favorite was Fort Washington\u2019s stablemate Integration.<\/p>\n It was the 6-year-old Fort Washington\u2019s third victory in his past four starts under jockey Junior Alvarado. One of those victories was in Pimlico\u2019s Dinner Party (G3) at 1 1\/8 miles. The defeat during the skein was a fourth, by a total of 1 3\/4 lengths, in Churchill Downs\u2019 Wise Dan (G2) at 1 1\/16 miles. The winner that day, Brilliant Berti, is a leading contender in the Mint Millions at a mile.<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to Alvarado, and he didn\u2019t think it would be a problem,\u201d McGaughey said of 1 1\/2 miles. \u201cWe\u2019re sort of banking on that. He\u2019s a pretty straight forward horse, the sort of horse that settles in and then finishes. Hopefully that\u2019s the way he\u2019ll handle it on Saturday\u2026 That\u2019s why I was anxious to run him in the Dinner Party at Pimlico, a little bit farther. We were disappointed in the race in Louisville, just kind of circumstances, probably my fault. I made the decision to go to the Arlington Million because he was training so well up at Saratoga. The race had been on Integration\u2019s slate, really, the whole summer. But Fort Washington was training so well I said that I\u2019ve got to give him a chance. He paid us back.\u201d<\/p>\n McGaughey gives a lot of credit to Alvarado, also rider of reigning Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty for trainer Bill Mott.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he understands him,\u201d McGaughey said of Alvarado and Fort Washington. \u201cLets him run his race. Like in the Arlington Million, he dropped him down on the inside, saving ground. When it was time to go, he got him out where he could finish. I got take my hat off to him and the job he\u2019s done with Fort Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n McGaughey is among those who think Alvarado has willed himself to be among the top riders in America the past few years, which also has coincided with riding most of Mott\u2019s top horses, including 2023 Horse of the Year Cody\u2019s Wish.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s as good as there is around here,\u201d McGaughey said. \u201cIf that wasn\u2019t the case, Bill wouldn\u2019t be using him. He obviously has a lot of confidence in him, and that makes other people have a lot of confidence in him. And I\u2019m sure that makes Junior have a lot of confidence in himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grand Sonata tries to be third Ky Turf Cup repeat winner Published 6:47 pm Thursday, September 4, 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-398649","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\/115148957081714639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398649","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=398649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}