Arklow Wins Louisville

LOUISVILLE, KY – Grade 1 winner Arkow has aged well. The 7-year-old horse, who made his first start of the year, won Saturday’s 84th running of the $150,000 Louisville Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in a stakes record time of 2:27.13.

Winning jockey Florent Geroux: “He’s such a warrior. He knows what he’s doing and such a professional. When he comes into the paddock every race he’s all business and shows a ton of versatility on the racetrack. I had him really relaxed and in a good spot early. With about five furlongs to go he started tugging hard and I had to go. I didn’t necessarily plan moving that early but he was ready to go. Brad and his team did a great job with him to get him ready to go this distance in his first start off the layoff. I’m very thankful to the owners as well for letting me get on him. He’s an incredible horse.”

Red Knight, Strong Tide, and Ajourneytofreedom completed the order.

Winning trainer Brad Cox: “He’s such a professional. We had this race in mind for a while to get his campaign started and he ran a great effort to start his year.”

The 7-year-old son of Arch improved his record to 32-9-7-2. Arklow has earned $2,750,746 for owners Jerry Crawford’s Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger and Lynn Coneway’s Estate of Peter Coneway.

Arklow returned $4.60 to win, $3.80 to place, and $3.00 to show.