If there's a run on blinkers at the local tack shop after the $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic (G1T) May 7 at Churchill Downs, blame trainer Brendan Walsh.
For the second straight day, Walsh added blinkers to a long-shot contender in a major stakes race at the Louisville oval. For the second straight day, that long shot won.
In the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic, it was Santin pulling off the upset in the hoofprints of filly stablemate New Year's Eve, who turned the trick a day earlier in the Edgewood Stakes Presented by Forcht Bank (G2T).
Both Walsh and Turf Classic-winning rider Tyler Gaffalione pointed to the blinkers by way of explanation.
"Kind of similar to the filly yesterday," Walsh said. "He's a very, very laid-back horse. The plan was always to come here. We got a few runs into him down in New Orleans and today was the day so we said, 'We better pull the blinkers out.'"
If the equipment change indeed had an effect, it was as the field charged down the Churchill Downs stretch. Santin, a 4-year-old colt by Distorted Humor, had hounded front-running Tribhuvan through most of the race and, as that one faded, moved to take a narrow lead, only to find Mira Mission making his own run at the front.
Mira Mission and jockey Julien Leparoux appeared to grab a narrow lead before a focused Santin dug back in, re-rallied and got home first by a neck over the stubborn rival. Adhamo put in a late run to get show money but was a full six lengths farther back with Shirl's Speight settling for fourth, another three-quarters of a length in arrears.
Santin finished the 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:49.72.
So what about the equipment change, Mr. Gaffalione? Did the change matter?
"I definitely think so," the jockey replied. "You know, he's just one of those horses, you can just never get to the bottom of him. Brendan made the change today and he really responded.
"He broke alertly. Coming into the stretch, I wheeled out a little bit and the horse got back up and engaged (Mira Mission) and he fought on."
The win was the third from six starts for Santin, a Godolphin homebred out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Sentiero Italia. He won his first two starts as a 2-year-old before reporting second in the Hollywood Derby (G1T) at Del Mar behind only Beyond Brilliant.
He started 2022 with a close fourth-place finish in the Fair Grounds Stakes (G3T) in New Orleans, then got home second in the Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes Presented by Horse Racing Nation (G2T) before heading north. He had been training at Keeneland and Churchill Downs since early April.
Adhamo, a 4-year-old colt by Intello, finished second in the Fair Grounds Stakes in his first U.S. start for trainer Chad Brown. Mira Mission came into the race off a fifth-place finish in the Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland—a race won by Shirl's Speight .
"It was very exciting," Walsh said of the Turf Classic. "I thought Tyler gave him a fantastic ride. He had him in a perfect spot, close to the lead. He had all his bases covered. The horse obviously liked the track here. He seemed to put that first horse away and then when the other horse came to him and looked like he was going to go by him, he seemed to find a little bit more. Then again, that's him."
Will he put blinkers on all his horses now?
"I'll have to buy some more pairs," the Irishman said with a smile.
