Caribou Club Holds Tight Late in BWI Turf Cup

LAUREL, MD – Glen Hill Farm’s homebred Caribou Club, whose first career stakes score came in the 2016 Laurel Futurity, took over in deep stretch and held on tight late to win Saturday’s $200,000 Baltimore/Washington International Turf Cup Stakes (G3) at Laurel Park.

Breaking from post 7 under Feargal Lynch as the 7/2 second choice, Caribou Club sat at the rear while Macagone led the 5/2 favorite Glorious Empire through opening fractions of :23.57 and :46.34.

Heading into the far turn, Caribou Club tipped out three-wide and took aim at Glorious Empire, who took the lead off of the far turn. Sliding past the bettors’ choice near the 1/16 pole, Caribou Club soon came under pressure from the late-running pair of Frontier Market and Cullum Road.

That foe’s push proved too little, too late, as Caribou Club crossed a head in front at the wire. The Tom Proctor trainee completed the mile-long event over the firm turf course in a new track-record time of 1:33.35, besting Tizzarunner’s 2017 mark of 1:33.40.

“He loves it here,” Lynch said. “There was a lot of speed in the race with (Macagone) in it. We just decided to take our time. He’s a nice horse and he’s got a good turn of foot. He’s very adaptable.”

Frontier Market finished second, himself a head in front of Cullum Road. Up the Ante and Just Howard made efforts along the rail but couldn’t make up enough ground before finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Glorious Empire, making his first start since winning the Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G2) last December, faded in the stretch and outkicked only a spent Macagone to complete the order of finish. Golden Brown was scratched.

Caribou Club’s win was his second straight following the West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker’s Cup at Mountaineer, where his final time of 1:37.09 broke the North American record for 1 mile and 70-yard turf events. The 5-year-old gelded son of City Zip improved his record to 21-9-3-4 with $673,427 earned.

Caribou Club returned $9 to win, $4.60 to place, and $3.20 to show. Frontier Market brought back $5 to place and $3.20 to show, while Cullum Road paid $5.40 to show.