Mercante (red cap). (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Darren Rogers/Churchill Downs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Carl Pollard’s homebred Mercante, runner-up in the $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic (Grade I) on Kentucky Derby Day, remained in top form and out-finished 9-5 favorite Brilliant Berti in a thrilling stretch run to win Saturday’s 89th running of the $273,500 Arlington Stakes (Grade III) at Churchill Downs by a neck.
Mercante, ridden by Joe Ramos and trained by Brian Knippenberg, ran 1 1/16 miles on turf in a stakes record 1:40.89, which eclipsed Ottoman Fleet (GB)’s time of 1:41.45 last year.
“To do this here at Churchill, with Mr. Pollard in attendance, and (Bill Landes), my boss for a hundred years, it’s so special,” Knippenberg said.
Mercante earned $168,105 for Saturday’s victory and improved his record to 5-1-3 in 13 starts with earnings of $726,122.
Brilliant Berti, who entered the race a perfect 4-for-4 over the Churchill Downs turf course, found himself on the lead in the field of seven older horses and set comfortable early fractions of :24.43, :48.42 and 1:11.72 as Mercante rated just behind him down the backstretch.
Mercante engaged Brilliant Bertie around the final turn from the outside. The two matched strides down the lane but Mercante out-gamed his rival late for the narrow victory.
“I have so much confidence in him every time he runs,” Ramos said. “He was going really well down the backside and turning for home I had a lot of horse left. He fought really hard to the wire.”
Mercante, off as the 3-1 third betting choice, paid $8.90, $4.30 and $3.16. Brilliant Berti, under Brian Hernandez Jr., returned $3.42 and $2.60. Lagynos was another half-length back in third under Flavien Prat at odds of 6-1 and paid $2.94 to show.
Event Detail, Gigante and Silent Heart completed the running order. Cameo Performance and Herchee were scratched.
This was the second Grade III win of Mercante’s career. In March, he prevailed in the $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic (GIII) at Turfway Park.
“He does his best running when he’s outside of horses,” Knippenberg said. “After the break, when I saw Joe go to the outside of horses, I had a ton of confidence that he’d run well. I just can’t say enough how special this is.”
Mercante, a 5-year-old gelded son of Gun Runner out of the Honour and Glory mare Caressing, was bred in Kentucky.
“Half the people from Hermitage Farm are here,” Knippenberg said. “It’s just great that everything worked out the way it did. We nominated him to the Wise Dan, but we’ll let him tell us what to do next.”
Call Protection was pulled up after a half mile and was vanned to the Equine Medical Center for further evaluation. Upon evaluation, the extent of the injury to his right front leg was severe and resulted in a catastrophic injury, according to Dr. Will Farmer, Churchill Downs Incorporated’s Equine Medical Director.
Arlington Quotes
Brian Knippenberg (trainer, Mercante, winner): “To do this here at Churchill, with Mr. Pollard in attendance, and (Bill Landes), my boss for a hundred years, it’s so special. He does his best running when he’s outside of horses. After the break, when I saw Joe (Ramos) go to the outside of horses, I had a ton of confidence that he’d run well. I just can’t say enough how special this is. Half the people from Hermitage Farm are here. It’s just great that everything worked out the way it did. We nominated him to the Wise Dan but we’ll let him tell us what to do next.”
Brian Hernandez Jr. (jockey, Brilliant Berti, runner-up): “It was a weird trip. No one really wanted the lead out of the gate, and we sort of got there because of that. He still ran a good race doing something that he wasn’t used to doing.”
