Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ graded stakes winner Built (Hard Spun – Sea Garden, by Curlin) remained in top form with a 1 ½-length win in the $300,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society at Churchill Downs on Sept. 12, leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week.
Downs. (Coady Media)
It was the third stakes win for the 4-year-old son of Hard Spun. In addition to winning the Grade 2, $400,000 Vanderbilt at Saratoga on July 25, Built won the $100,000 Gun Runner at Fair Grounds as a 2-year-old. Trained by Wayne Catalano, Built was purchased by his owner for $260,000 out of the Harris Training Center consignment at the 2024 OBS April Sale after breezing in :9 4/5.
The Churchill Downs card on Sept. 12 also saw Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s Usha (Tiz the Law- Animal Appeal, by Leroidesanimaux) battle gamely to win the $268,500 Open Mind by three-quarters of a length.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Usha collected her third career stakes win. The Grade 1 winner was purchased by her owners for $600,000 at the 2024 OBS April Sale from the On Point Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :9 4/5.
At Gulfstream Park Sept. 12, Ironhorse Racing Stable and Harlow Stables’ Mattingly (Bucchero—Battingstar, by Grand Slam) making his second start off a three-month layoff, split horses in mid-stretch for a dramatic neck victory in the $100,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint.
Trained by Joe Orseno, the gelded son of OBS grad Bucchero was purchased at the 2023 OBS March Sale by Ironhorse Racing Stable for $70,000 out of the Two Oaks Equine consignment after breezing in :10 1/5.
At Woodbine Sept. 13, Gary Barber and Team Valor International’s Elysian Field (Hard Spun—Elysian, by Smart Strike) came off a summer freshening to win her first career turf race in the $150,000 Belfountain Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths.
Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Elysian Field is a multiple graded winner on synthetic. She was a $70,000 purchase at the 2022 OBS June Sale by Bruce Brown, Agent, out of the Ocala Stud consignment after breezing in :21 3/5.