Congratulations to the promising Kentucky Derby contender Cupid, whose impressive victory in the Rebel Stakes (gr. II) on March 19th at Oaklawn Park has earned him the title of “Horse of the Week” on The Turf Board!
In a poll on The Turf Board’s Twitter page, Cupid received an impressive 83% of the votes, while Razorback Handicap (gr. III) winner Upstart received 11% and Santa Margarita Stakes (gr. I) winner Tara’s Tango received just under 6%.
“I am so happy that he ran so well, especially for Martin,” trainer Bob Baffert was quoted as saying on the Oaklawn Park website. “He works so hard getting these horses ready and he got the win. I’m happy for the Coolmore (owners) gang, too. I knew going in he was a nice horse. But he never had been tested and that was a pretty strong bunch.”
“You never know what they’re going to do when they ship, and when there are 14 horses (in the field). He missed the break a little bit, and I had told Martin (Garcia) that the last time we went there we got destroyed leaving the gate. Once he got the lead down the backside, he was going pretty fast. He showed he’s improving and he’s a fast horse. Down the backside, he looked like he was really doing it easier than the time said. Turning for home, I don’t know what it was, but he looked a little green there and lost a little momentum. He was on the rail tight and was probably looking around. He was maybe too close to the rail, and I’ve seen horses do that. He’s a lightly raced horse.”
“I was sweating at the break when he didn’t break. I was worried they were going to close up on him like that they did with Collected last time. But once he got him rolling….When that horse [Whitmore] came rolling down the middle of the stretch I thought we’ll see what he’s made of. That’s when we realized what he’s made of. He started to kick back in. That what you want to see this time of year, them showing some grits and some guts. He looked fantastic in the paddock and the post parade. He was ready to run and he ran like he looked.”
Martin Garcia was also pleased with Cupid’s performance. “It’s hard for horses to break their maiden and then step up to this kind of company with this many people around and win, but he did. He’s still green. When we hit the top of the stretch, he got lonely and he locked in on the other horse that was coming up on the outside he responded one more time. He showed a lot of ability and we know he can run. He really proved today that he is improving. The distance doesn’t matter, he can go as far as he wants.”
Cupid is expected to return to Oaklawn Park to run in the $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby (gr. I) on April 16th.
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