{"id":401213,"date":"2025-09-05T23:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/401213\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T23:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:38:15","slug":"kilwins-2025-goal-g2-music-city-with-g1-test-the-prep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/401213\/","title":{"rendered":"Kilwin\u2019s 2025 goal: G2 Music City, with G1 Test the prep"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kilwin\u2019s 2025 goal: G2 Music City, with G1 Test the prep<\/p>\n

Published 4:44 pm Friday, September 5, 2025<\/p>\n

\n By By JENNIE REES \/ Special to the Daily News<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n Kilwin wins last year’s $1 million Untapable Stakes under Jose Lezcano. She’ll be ridden by Jose Ortiz in Saturday’s $2 million Music City (G2) at Kentucky Downs in Franklin. (KURTIS COADY \/ Coady Media) <\/p>\n

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\n Brilliant Berti and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. win Churchill Downs’ G2, $500,000 Wise Dan in his last start. (CHRISTINE HAYDEN \/ Coady Media) <\/p>\n

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FRANKLIN \u2014\u00a0Here\u2019s how much trainer Rusty Arnold points for Kentucky Downs\u2019 seven-day all-turf meet: He made his hotel reservations six months ago.<\/p>\n

One stakes at Kentucky Downs has been on his radar a lot longer than that: He\u2019s planned on bringing BBN Racing\u2019s Kilwin for the $2 million, Grade 2 AGS Music City for 3-year-old filly sprinters ever since BBN Racing\u2019s filly won last year\u2019s $1 million Untapable Stakes over the course. The Music City has been the target to the extent that Arnold and BBN ran Kilwin in Saratoga\u2019s Grade 1 Test at seven furlongs on dirt in large part as a means to get back to Kentucky Downs. Winner of Churchill Downs\u2019 Leslie\u2019s Lady Overnight Stakes in her first start on dirt, Kilwin stumbled badly to her knees in the Test but recovered and rallied from last to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re happy with it, but it wasn\u2019t going to change our plans going where we wanted to go,\u201d said Arnold, who also had beaten favorite Echo Sound in the Test. \u201cWe\u2019ve been zeroing in on the Music City all year. Just the timing was good with the Test. We thought about going different places with her, thought about going to the Monmouth Oaks a week earlier. I think I was just trying to separate my two fillies.<\/p>\n

\u201cKilwin had been training great, her breezes were great. She acted like she belonged, her numbers said she belonged,\u201d he continued, adding of BBN co-founder and racing manager Braxton Lynch, \u201cIn the end, I think Braxton wanted to go to the Test. I said, \u2018Look, the only negative for me going to the Test is I have another filly in there. But it\u2019s not fair to her for me to keep her out of it because of that, so let\u2019s take her.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Kilwin from her No. 2 post stumbled so badly that jockey Jose Ortiz stayed on with sheer athleticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were watching the race on TV. She\u2019s not real big, and she was between two horses and went down so quick you didn\u2019t know what happened,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if she just got away bad. I couldn\u2019t tell. When it happened, I\u2019ve got to be honest, I was watching my other horse most of the race. Her \u2018chiclet\u2019 didn\u2019t even make the screen until the quarter pole. It was kind of like what the announcer said, \u2018Even Kilwin is back in the race!\u2019 When I went down after the racetrack, I still hadn\u2019t seen the stumble. Jose said, \u2018Well, we got lucky. I barely stayed on her. She went to her knees at the gate.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Kilwin rallied from near-last to take the 6 1\/2-furlong Untapable after winning her debut at 5 1\/2 furlongs at Ellis Park. She ended her season with a fifth place in the mile Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) after pressing the pace.<\/p>\n

The Twirling Candy filly started her 3-year-old season with a pair of\u00a05 1\/2-furlongs turf stakes, finishing a reasonably competitive sixth (beaten 3 1\/2 lengths) in Keeneland\u2019s Limestone and second by 4 1\/4 lengths in Churchill Downs\u2019 Mamzelle (G3). Both races were won by 3-1 Music City favorite Shisospicy. Kilwin is the Music City\u2019s 4-1 second choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cShisospicy is a freak of a filly,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cThat\u2019s when we were thinking, \u2018Do we stretch her out on grass? Or just go for that middle distance, seven furlongs, on Churchill and run her on the dirt?\u2019 We had said we\u2019d wanted to try her on dirt, \u2018so let\u2019s do it now.\u2019 And then we end up in the Test!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said, \u2018If we\u2019re going to try the dirt, this is the time to do it,\u2019 \u201d Arnold said of the Leslie\u2019s Lady. \u201c \u2018We\u2019ve been beaten twice on the turf. We have all year to make a plan to get to the Music City. So let\u2019s go here in our own backyard.\u2019 It just fell together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arnold has been running at Kentucky Downs since 1998, when he went 2 for 2 in a maiden and allowance race. The purses were $23,000 and $25,000. Today those same race conditions go for $170,000 and $190,000 for Kentucky-breds, which is most of Arnold\u2019s barn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to comprehend that I have a filly that just won the Test, Grade 1 at Saratoga, and I\u2019m going to run her down there for like four of those (in purse size),\u201d Arnold said. \u201cFour of them! It\u2019s just hard to wrap your head around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But to win, Kilwin will have to defeat Shisospicy for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the distance is going to help us out a little bit, 6 1\/2 (starting) up the hill,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cHopefully, it will make a difference. But she\u2019s doing well. Very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Depending on Saturday\u2019s outcome, Arnold is considering running Kilwin back on dirt in her next start after the Music City: in the $1 million Breeders\u2019 Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at seven-eighths of a mile. The $1 million Breeders\u2019 Cup Turf Sprint, in addition to being against older males, is at five-eighths of a mile at Del Mar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t back up,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cThe whole thing got thrown into a \u2018mess\u2019 when she ran good on dirt. This was the plan all year to get to this race. But we didn\u2019t know exactly how we\u2019d get there. We turned in the middle of how we were going to do that. We were going to run her in a couple of mile turf races. When she won the Leslie\u2019s Lady, we had to try her (in the Test) and she won. Now you\u2019re dealing with being undefeated on the dirt and running them on the grass. I\u2019d suspect we would go back to seven-eighths on the dirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m worried about Saturday right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mint Millions: No place like home for Brilliant Berti<\/strong><\/p>\n

Klein Racing\u2019s 4-year-old colt Brilliant Berti not only claims a home-course advantage in Saturday\u2019s $2.5 million FanDuel TV Mint Millions, he has a decided home-state advantage.<\/p>\n

The Cherie DeVaux-trained Brilliant Berti won last year\u2019s then $1.5 million Gun Runner (this year worth $2 million) at Kentucky Downs. And his subsequent victories in Keeneland\u2019s Bryan Station (G3) to end his 3-year-old campaign and wins in Churchill Downs\u2019 $350,000 Opening Verse and Grade 2 Wise Dan have Brilliant Berti 7 for 8 in Kentucky. The lone lost, second by a neck after Brilliant Berti found himself on the lead and out of his running style, came in Churchill Downs\u2019 G3 Arlington Stakes won by Mercante, who runs in Saturday\u2019s $2.5 million KTDF Kentucky Turf Cup at 1 1\/2 miles.<\/p>\n

The only times Brilliant Berti has been worse than second in 11 career starts was his career debut last year at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and when he started this year with an eighth \u2014 though beaten only four lengths off a five-month layoff \u2014 back in New Orleans in the 1 1\/8-mile Muniz Memorial (G2). Brilliant Berti\u2019s other out-of-state start was last year at Colonial Downs, when he was second in the Secretariat (G2) to the well-regarded Trikari, after which he won the Gun Runner.<\/p>\n

No wonder Richard Klein, who heads his family\u2019s Klein Racing, considers his Breeders\u2019 Cup for Brilliant Berti the two-race sequence of the Mint Millions and the Grade 1, $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not interested in going out West, with its short stretch\u201d at Del Mar, site of the Breeders\u2019 Cup, he said. \u201cThe next two races are our Breeders\u2019 Cup races. Somebody said to me, \u2018Why don\u2019t you go to New York? Why didn\u2019t you go to the Fourstardave?\u2019 I\u2019m thinking, you don\u2019t have to leave the state of Kentucky anymore. You have two Grade 1 stakes at Keeneland, one in spring and fall, for older turf milers. Right in the middle, you can go in the Opening Verse or the Arlington or Wise Dan. If you want to, you can run at Ellis Park (for $250,000). There\u2019s no need to go anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, by the way, Brilliant Berti has earned $2.17 million \u2014 tops in the field \u2014 by staying home. \u201cHe never gets big (speed figure) numbers in these races,\u201d Klein said. \u201cHe just does one thing: He wins. He just knows how to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brilliant Berti, with regular rider Brian Hernandez up, is 8-1 in the morning line for the Mint Millions\u2019 field of 13, with Kentucky Downs\u2019 opening-day Keeneland Sales Tapit Stakes winner Lagynos the 4-1 favorite. Brilliant Berti has beaten Lagynos the four times they\u2019ve met, including three victories. But Klein isn\u2019t worried about betting odds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like the way he\u2019s coming into the race,\u201d Klein said, adding of former trainer David Carroll, a top assistant based in Lexington for DeVaux, \u201cDavid Carroll has been with him all summer because Cherie has been up at Saratoga. He\u2019s done a great job with him and says he\u2019s ready to go, and he\u2019s happy with all his breezes. His coat looks good. He\u2019s a happy horse right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a competitive, strong race, whoever gets the trip and likes the course on that day. But I think there\u2019s enough speed in there to help a horse like Berti who wants to sit off the pace or a little bit farther back. Cherie has always thought a mile was his best distance, as opposed to a mile and a sixteenth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited for the race. You run for $2.5 million, anybody\u2019s got a shot to win. But I like what we\u2019re bringing into the race.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kilwin\u2019s 2025 goal: G2 Music City, with G1 Test the prep Published 4:44 pm Friday, September 5, 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-401213","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\/115154328418551051","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401213","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=401213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}