Longshot Plensa scores first stakes win. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Kentucky Downs Release
FRANKLIN, Ky. –The last-minute decision to enter the $2 million Exacta Systems Gun Runner Stakes made trainer Rusty Arnold look like a genius after Mill Ridge Farm and Frank Garrison’s Plensa rallied late down the middle of the stretch to win at odds of 22-1.
“He got excluded twice (trying to enter) and we weren’t going to get a chance to go back, so I talked to Headley (Bell of Mill Ridge) and said we have a chance against straight 3-year-olds,” Arnold said. “I think he was the last horse in. We were trying to make a good run and get a piece, and we got the whole piece.
“We liked him, but we didn’t have a level of confidence today. You usually have a progression. He ran a very good A other than in Saratoga, had two good works, trained good. Sometimes you take a shot, and it worked out.”
Breaking from post position six, Plensa was in the bottom flight of horses early and hugged the rail going into turn, but as soon as jockey Florent Geroux tipped him to the outside entering the stretch, he took off and began picking up horses. He finished one length in front of Giocoso in 1:33.51 for one mile over a good course. Namaron (GER) was third and Layabout finished out the superfecta after hesitating to load into the gate.
“He broke great,” Geroux said. “I tried to get a little closer, but they ran away from me so from there, I just saved him and let him take me. I think it was the most important thing here on this course, you know, you need to let the horse dictate where they’re comfortable where they want to be running.
“I was just following Flavian, and from there, tipped him out, you know, slowly, and when I get a clear shot, I went off to him, and I could tell right away he was going to get there because he had the horse (in front) locked on his radar, and he was just going after him, and I was able to run him down and went through easily the rest of the way.”
The Mill Ridge Farm silks have been carried through six generations of races, but today marked their richest purse.
“Those silks are six-generations silks,” Bell said. “Our son Price said, ‘Dad, they’ve never seen two-million dollars.’”
“We bred him, and we believed in him as a yearling,” Bell continued. “I tried to get a number of people on him. Ended up RNA-ing him for $80,000. Sent him to April Mayberry and team, and they believed in him. And, then sent him to Rusty Arnold, who also believed in him. We took a shot here, like you do at Kentucky Downs. The money is so rich, not every horse likes this turf, and we got lucky. Florent believed in the horse all along.”
Plensa improved his record to 2-2-1 in six career starts. He returned $47.20, $18.32 and $10.50.
