Mongolian Saturday’s connections could continue success in Hong Kong

Edited Press Release

The Breeders’ Cup took on even more of an international flavor than usual Saturday at Keeneland, when the first Mongolian contingent to start a horse in the series showed up in formal Mongolian dress.

Those jackets, known as ‘deels,’ also graced the winner’s circle when Mongolian Saturday captured the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) with a determined effort from the outside post 14. French-born Florent Geroux rode him to the neck victory in  1:03.19.

“It’s real! I knew he would run very good, first or second,” trainer Enebish Ganbat said.

Sunday morning, the five-year-old gelding jogged under tack in the shedrow.

“He ate good, and is feeling good. I wanted to let him jog a little bit to relax his muscles. Tomorrow we move to Gulfstream – all the horses,” Ganbat remarked.

“He will stay in training,” he added. “The people in Hong Kong have sent me an invitation to the big $2 million turf race there December 13. We’ll see how the horse is feeling. If he is good, we can go out there.”

The Hong Kong Sprint (HK-G1) is one of several international races on the Turf World Championships card on December 13 at Sha Tin Racecourse.

Ganbat trains Mongolian Saturday and 11 more for his close friend Ganbaater Dagvador, who races as Monglian Stable.

“Ganbaatar is very happy,” the trainer said. “Yesterday, so many people’s support, he said he’d never seen anything like this. American people are happy for Mongolian Saturday. Everybody congratulates us. We were in our national dress and many people came to take a photo with us. It’s like yesterday was a Mongolian fashion show at Keeneland.”

Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) winner Found along with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) winner Hit It a Bomb were the first of the international contingent to ship out of Keeneland on Sunday morning, along with the other Aidan O’Brien team consisting of Gleneagles, Shogun, Waterloo Bridge, War Envoy, Alice Springs and the David Wachman-trained Legatissimo.

Aidan O’Brien announced that Found, who had run in two Champion Stakes races and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) as well as a Breeders’ Cup race all in the space of a month, was to remain in training in 2016.

The French contingent departed Keeneland on Sunday morning and vanned to Chicago where they will stay overnight before flying on Monday from Chicago via Amsterdam, arriving on Tuesday morning. The exception is Karakontie, who will remain stateside having been retired to stand at stud at Gainesway Farm.

The English horses are scheduled to depart on Monday afternoon from Keeneland and will head home via a charter flight from Louisville direct to Stansted in the United Kingdom. However, Ralph Beckett’s Secret Gesture will remain in the America and will be retired to for breeding purposes, but it is not yet known with whom she will be bred.

Jeremy Noseda’s Nemoralia will depart for Florida where she will have a rest before re-entering quarantine before shipping back to England in December.

All the other horses are reported to be in good order after their Breeders’ Cup races, although John Gosden’s head lad Barry O’Dowd reported that Golden Horn had sustained a small cut to a hind leg in the course of his second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Golden Horn has been retired and will join the Darley stallion roster.

Mongolian Saturday’s connections photo courtesy of Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com
Mongolian Saturday photo courtesy of Bob Newell/Horsephotos.com