NEWS

Kip Deville tops strong
Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap field

Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2009 5:33 PM

KIP DEVILLE

Bill Denver/Equi-photo

by Ron Parker

IEAH Stables’, Andrew Cohen’s, et al’s Kip Deville headlines a field of eleven older horses entered in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) on Sunday.

The six-year-old Kipling horse will carry high weight of 124 pounds, spotting his rivals from two to 13 pounds in the 1 1/8-mile feature on the Hallandale Beach, Florida, track’s turf course.

A career earner of $3,139,614, Kip Deville will seek his seventh graded stakes win and fourth in a Grade 1 event during a career that includes a victory in the 2007 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) and a second to Goldikova (Ire) in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Following that loss, Kip Deville was sent to Hong Kong and finished ninth in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile (HK-G1) on December 14. The Oklahoma-bred signaled his readiness for his 2009 campaign on Wednesday, however, as he covered five furlongs in 1:05.75 under jockey Cornelio Velasquez during a public workout over the course.

“When Cornelio got off him, he said it might have been the best breeze that horse has ever turned in,” trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said. “’Kip’ is just having so much fun out there right now.”

Another former Breeders’ Cup champion will be on hand to try and prevent a Kip Deville romp in J. Paul Reddam’s Red Rocks (Ire), winner of the 2006 John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).

An earner of $2,807,821, the six-year-old Galileo horse has been a world traveler, competing in England, France, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong between trips to the United States, principally for the Breeders’ Cup.

He finished third to eventual champion turf male English Channel in the 2007 John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf and will make his first start since an unplaced finish behind 2008 champion turf male Conduit (Ire) in last year’s Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf.

In addition to its partnership in Kip Deville, IEAH Stables also co-owns Court Vision with WinStar Farm, and the four-year-old Gulch colt enters the race riding a wave of momentum.

A four-time graded stakes winner, Court Vision makes his four-year-old debut after victories in the Jamaica Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park on October 4 and the Hollywood Derby (G1) in his previous start on November 30.

Ron Parker is a Thoroughbred Times contributing writer

Gulfstream Park Turf H.