Willy D's Upsets Mercante to Win Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park

Wadsworth was supposed to win this race. Brad Cox's 2-1 favorite pressed three wide on the second turn and did everything right until the top of the stretch, where Willy D's simply left him behind. The 5-year-old gelding owned by Paradise Farms Corp. rallied from off the pace to deliver the biggest upset on Turfway Park's four-stakes Jeff Ruby Steaks undercard Saturday, winning the Grade 3, $300,000 TwinSpires Kentucky Cup Classic by three-quarters of a length over Mercante in a final time of 1:50.88 on the fast synthetic surface.

Willy D's, a son of Lookin At Lucky trained by Mike Maker, went postward at roughly 11/2 in the pre-race forecast and returned $17.94 on a win ticket. That's a number that stings if you were on Wadsworth and sings if you had any faith in Maker and jockey John Velazquez working a horse off the pace.

The trip was textbook patient riding from Velazquez. Tickled Quist carved out honest fractions up front, hitting the quarter in 22.87 and the half in 47.51. Velazquez had Willy D's stalking from the two-to-three path, then threaded between rivals in the backstretch to press outside the leader. The top three passed the three-quarter mark in 1:11.76 while Willy D's and Wadsworth dueled three-deep around the far turn. At the five-sixteenths pole, Velazquez asked and Willy D's answered, grabbing the lead and inching clear into upper stretch.

Mercante, the 3-1 second choice ridden by Walter Rodriguez for trainer Brian Knippenberg, mounted a sustained challenge from the three path through the final furlong but could not reel in the winner. The margin at the wire was three-quarters of a length. Mercante returned $5.52 to place and $3.72 to show.

Honor Marie finished third, 3-1/4 lengths back after breaking a step slow and spending the race spotting the field early speed she never had. She rallied along the rail to make it respectable, paying $3.28 to show. Naptown was fourth. Wadsworth, who gave way in upper stretch after pressing the pace, finished fifth.

The win validates a spot-play approach to Maker's horses on synthetic surfaces. Willy D's is not a flashy name in a headline race, but the combination of Velazquez in the irons, a trip that let the pace develop honestly in front of him, and a faltering favorite opened the door. The gelding walked through it.

Elsewhere on the Jeff Ruby Steaks undercard, Outfielder made the Animal Kingdom Stakes look routine, drawing off to win the $250,000 sprint for 3-year-olds by 4-1/2 lengths as the odds-on favorite.