Mongolian Saturday Returns to GP

Mongolian Stable’s GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint upsetter Mongolian Saturday (Any Given Saturday) has returned to his winter base at Gulfstream Park and is in good shape following his championship victory.

Breaking from the far outside post in the 14-horse Turf Sprint, Mongolian Saturday stalked the pace early and held off a late charge from “TDN Rising Star” Lady Shipman (Midshipman) to score a 15-1 upset.

“The good thing about the race was the post position. It matters a lot,” said assistant trainer Santiago Aragon, who doubles as Mongolian Saturday’s exercise rider. “This time we got the outside. The horse relaxes when he’s on the outside. The other wins he’s had have always been from the outside. We got a good post and stalked the leaders and Florent did a good job and relaxed him the whole way. Turning for home, he got a good kick at the end and ran really huge.”

Mongolian Saturday is likely to make one more start this year at Gulfstream and could possibly make a trip overseas.

“We’re planning to run him one or two more races and then send him to the farm and let him relax,” Aragon said. “The boss is planning to go to Royal Ascot, so we’ll think about that, too. We’ll see what kind of races there are. We’re planning to run him on the turf the whole year. Talking with the trainer, we were going to stretch him out a little bit. Maybe we will try him here in an allowance race and see how he handles it. He’s a different horse now. He’s a big, strong horse and he’s more relaxed, more calm. I think he’ll go up to a mile. We’ll see what happens.”