NEWS
Murtagh magic in the Turf
Posted: Wednesday, November 01, 2000
Irish jockey Johnny Murtagh wins his 11th Grade/Group 1 race of the year on Kalanisi
"I don't think I've done anything different this year," said jockey Johnny Murtagh. "It's when you're on good horses you always get the run. Your confidence grows and grows."
Considering the year he is enjoying in 2000, it was probably inevitable that Murtagh's mount Kalanisi (Ire) got the run-and found the acceleration-to win the $2,271,680 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) on November 4 at Churchill Downs. Although Murtagh was Ireland's leading rider by wins in 1995, '96, and '98, until this year he was not nearly as well-known on the international stage as star Irish jockey Michael Kinane. Murtagh, stable jockey for top Irish trainer John Oxx, had enjoyed international cameos on Ridgewood Pearl (GB) in the 1995 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) and Timarida (Ire) in the '96 Beverly D. Stakes (G1), both trained by Oxx.
Then came Sinndar. Murtagh won the Epsom Derby (Eng-G1), Irish Derby (Ire-G1), and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) on the Oxx-trained, Aga Khan-owned and -bred son of Grand Lodge in 2000, and everything else seemed, almost literally, to fall into place. Kieren Fallon, stable jockey for Sir Michael Stoute, was badly injured in a fall in June. Since Stoute trains for the Aga Khan as well, it was natural that Murtagh would get the call on many of his horses in Stoute's Newmarket yard as well as Stoute's other top horses.
Murtagh won the Kildangan Stud Irish Oaks (Ire-G1) and Prix de
l'Opera (Fr-G1) on Stoute-trained Petrushka (Ire), the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis (Ger-G1) on Stoute-trained Greek Dance, and the Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp (Fr-G1) on Oxx-trained Namid.
Murtagh's partnership with Kalanisi, though, took a while to happen. Unraced at two, Kalanisi won all three of his starts at three for trainer Luca Cumani but was moved to Stoute's yard at the end of the season when the Aga Khan decided to remove all of his horses from Cumani's care.
The son of Doyoun (Ire) lost his unbeaten record in his first start at four, running second in a listed race under Fallon at Windsor. Fallon rode Kalanisi to victory in the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-G2) at Royal Ascot just before his near-fatal fall, but the ride on Kalanisi in the Eclipse (Eng-G1) and Juddmonte International (Eng-G1) Stakes went to Stoute's former stable jockey, Pat Eddery.
Each time, Kalanisi was beaten a head by Giant's Causeway in a pulsating, whip-slashing finish.
Enter Murtagh. Stoute hoisted the Irish jockey aboard Kalanisi in the Champion Stakes (Eng-G1) at Newmarket on October 14, and the four-year-old sprinted into the lead in the dip and held off the closing surge of Montjeu to score his first Group 1 victory. That brought Murtagh's Group 1 score for the year to ten.
Waiting for Montjeu
With Montjeu in the field at his favorite distance of 1 1/2 miles (7-of-9 lifetime), it was inevitable that Europe's champion three-year-old of 1999 and best older horse of 2000 would be favored for the Breeders' Cup Turf even though he had lost his previous two races. Those two defeats were universally attributed to an injury to the Sadler's Wells colt's right front ankle that forced his withdrawal from the Irish Champion Stakes (Ire-G1) on September 9.
Although Montjeu won his Arc prep race, the Prix Foy (Fr-G2) against outclassed opponents on September 10, he lacked his usual acceleration in the Arc, finishing a well-beaten fourth behind Murtagh and Sinndar. Montjeu ran better against Kalanisi in the Champion, but the next three weeks turned into a slow-motion parody of Samuel Beckett's famous absurdist play "Waiting for Godot" as his connections delayed committing to the Breeders' Cup Turf until the last possible moment.
"There's really no sign of the injury now," said trainer John Hammond in the paddock just before the Turf as he awaited Montjeu's arrival. "But a lot of really good horses, if something like that happens, they're never quite the same.
"It doesn't take much with horses at such a high level to make a difference."
If Montjeu proved not to be at his best, then Kalanisi and America's best turf runner still in training, Manndar (Ire), another Aga Khan-bred son of Doyoun, were the obvious choices, and the public settled on those two as third and second choices, respectively.
The enigma of the race on paper was figuring out who would set the pace. After the first furlong it became clear that if the whole field was not waiting for Montjeu (who was pulled back to last place by Kinane), it was waiting for somebody-anybody-to set an honest pace. It never happened, and with Montjeu making only the most mild-mannered bid, the race developed into an all-out sprint over the final two furlongs.
Pacemaker by default was Aly's Alley, who sauntered along in :24.77, :50.37, 1:15.38, and 1:39.97, with rider Edgar Prado looking over his shoulder to see if perhaps an invader from Standardbred racing's Breeders Crown might be gaining on him. Instead, the pace prompter was Shadwell Stable's Mutamam (GB), a five-year-old by the Aga Khan's stallion Darshaan, who had won his two previous starts.
Right behind were two North American-trained geldings, five-year-old Quiet Resolve, and nine-year-old sentimental favorite John's Call, a reformed hurdler who had won two Grade 1 turf stakes in New York this season. Manndar, whose stamina for 1 1/2 miles had to be taken on faith, rated in perfect position in fifth place under Corey Nakatani.
From the inside post position, Kalanisi broke alertly enough but soon found himself trapped on the rail and shuffled back to tenth position.
"I was a little worried about the draw and knew we would have to be patient," said Stoute after the race.
"I walked the track with Gary Stevens and Sir Michael this morning," Murtagh said, "and Gary said you can come from far back on this course. He was right, but it's a good thing this horse has such great acceleration."
As the pace picked up from the half-mile pole and Kinane tried unsuccessfully to remind Montjeu of his glory days, Mutamam on the inside and Quiet Resolve in the three path dismissed Aly's Alley, with John's Call warming up his antique engine on the outside. Manndar's stamina ran out abruptly, and Frankie Dettori on Godolphin's Man o' War Stakes (G1) winner Fantastic Light sought unsuccessfully for a clear run.
Murtagh's luck
As the field wheeled off the tight final turn, however, Murtagh finally saw a sliver of daylight to the outside, and Kalanisi virtually bolted through it. Inevitably, the pace-pressing trio up front had plenty left, running the final quarter mile in :23.26 on the way to a final clocking of 2:26.96 over the firm course. With an incredible final sprint, Kalanisi, after getting free near the three-sixteenths pole, made up more than five lengths on the three leaders from there to the wire, and he must have run the final quarter-mile in close to 22 seconds flat.
"He's never got the credit he's deserved in the past," Stoute said. "Look at the acceleration he's got-once he pulled out and saw some daylight, he really quickened."
"He's a great battler," Murtagh said. "He put his head down and won cozily in the end."
The head-on videotapes showed that Kalanisi veered in toward the rail from about the eight path under Murtagh's right-handed whip in the final furlong.
That forced John's Call into Fantastic Light's path and into Quiet Resolve's shoulder right at the wire, but it made no difference to the result. Kalanisi sprinted home first by a half-length, with Quiet Resolve a nose ahead of John's Call, who dropped his head in front of the game Mutamam.
"I thought we were home free," said Quiet Resolve's rider, Shane Sellers. "He has tactical speed and they were going 50 (seconds), and I was sitting right off of them. It was a big effort."
Other riders were less enthusiastic about the paceless race.
"I had to wait and wait," said Dettori of fifth-finisher Fantastic Light. "They kept us down inside. Some days you've got to have luck."
Of Montjeu, whose mild rally gained only seventh place, about 4 1/2 lengths behind the winner, Kinane said: "The lack of pace certainly didn't help the horse at all. He picked up the bit turning for home, but he was left with too much to do."
Although Kalanisi had never been asked to run 12 furlongs before, Stoute said, "I was confident that the trip would suit him.
"He's a very, very good horse. Yes, he's in the same class as Pilsudski (Ire) (Stoute-trained winner of the 1996 Turf)."
Just how good Kalanisi might have become at the end of his second season on the Turf may never be known. Although Stoute said no decision had been made on whether to keep the colt in training, the Aga Khan rarely continues to race colts who have proven Group 1 or Grade 1 ability.
A medium-sized, well-balanced colt who bears a strong resemblance to his sire Doyoun (by Mill Reef), Kalanisi has won 6-of-9 starts and earned $2,052,268, all but $37,495 of it this season. Out of the nonwinner Kalamba, by Green Dancer, Kalanisi emerges from a female line that has been in the Aga Khan's stud since his eighth dam, Lindos Ojos, was purchased by Prince Aly Khan, the current Aga Khan's father, for about $4,900 in 1935.
It was the second straight win in the Turf for Doyoun, who was banished to Turkey in 1999, and the second for the Aga Khan, who won the inaugural with Lashkari (GB).
Even Murtagh, who proclaimed Sinndar by far the best horse he had ever ridden after his Arc win, seemed to be stumped by the question of which horse was better at the end of the post-race interview session. With no need to be overly diplomatic about two horses owned and bred by the same man, Murtagh hesitated for several seconds when a reporter posed the question.
Stoute finally came to his rescue, quipping, "He's lucky he's ridden both of them."
For Johnny Murtagh in 2000, it seemed luck had little to do with it.
John P. Sparkman is bloodstock/sales editor of Thoroughbred Times.
