Mercante scaled new heights in his well-earned victory in Saturday’s Kentucky Cup Classic (G3), the stakes debut for the 5-year-old son of Gun Runner.
The dark bay had won a pair of allowance races during the Turfway Park meet and is now a graded stakes winner after defeating Encino by one length in the 1 1/8-mile contest. Mercante tracked Encino for the first six furlongs before tackling the pacesetter with three furlongs to run. The two entered the stretch side-by-side and stayed together until the final sixteenth, when Mercante edged away to stop the timer in 1:49.08, less than a second off the track record.
“I can’t thank the connections enough for allowing me to ride this horse back,” jockey Joe Ramos said. “He was so game today and fought hard the entire stretch. We’re out here having fun on Turfway Park’s biggest day in front of a great crowd. You can’t really ask for anything more.”
Owned and bred by Carl Pollard, Mercante is now 4-0-3 in 11 starts and has earned $367,017. He is out of Caressing, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2000 who has gone on to become a prolific broodmare as well. She is the dam of West Coast, who earned over $5 million, and the graded stakes-place duo of Gold Hawk & Juan and Bina.
Gun Runner currently has another top horse in the older male division in Red Route One, who captured the Essex H. (G3) Saturday at Oaklawn Park. Gun Runner currently leads the General Sire list with eight stakes winners and five graded stakes winners.
