Airoforce Takes to Main Track in KY Jockey Club

Some 15 years and three days ago, a gray colt called Monarchos (Maria's Mon) carried the gold-and-blue silks of John Oxley to a third-place effort in a maiden race on the penultimate day of the Churchill Downs fall meeting. Making his first start on the dirt in Saturday's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., the owner's Airoforce closed out the graded stakes season in the Bluegrass with a perfect-trip success, amplifying the versatility he's displayed in four starts to date.

Despite a pedigree heavily titled towards the main track, the $350,000 OBS April graduate had made each of his first three starts on the grass, winning his maiden at first asking over the quirky six-furlong trip at Kentucky Downs Sept. 5 before overcoming the 13 hole to post a 2 1/2-length success in the GIII Bourbon S. over yielding Keeneland turf Oct. 4. That effort earned this particulare gray colt a quote of 27-10 favoritism for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Oct. 30, and he sat a trip better than midfield and rallied stoutly, only to be touched off by the very impressive Hit It a Bomb (War Front).

Snagged back to mid-field by the in-form Julien Leparoux, Airoforce–blinkered for the first time–saved ground around the first turn and was allowed a two-path run up the backstretch as longshot Derby Express (Unbridled Express) set a strong pace from the rail-drawn Force It (More Than Ready). Airoforce worked his way into the first half of the field as they reached the second turn and Leparoux began threading his way from between horses while following the move of Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) leaving the three-eighths. Put to a stiff drive, Airoforce was steered to the outside, engaged Mor Spirit entering the final furlong and got the better of a final-furlong scrimmage to take it. Mo Tom made belated progress up the fence to snag third.

“He was always one of our better horses and we knew that he liked the dirt and it was just a matter of getting him on it when the time was right and tonight was the best time to do it,” said Norman Casse, the chief assistant who manages his father Mark's Kentucky division. “I thought this was a tough race this year. I'm excited about the way he ran.”

Airoforce was offered in utero at the 2012 Keeneland November sale, but his dam was led out unsold on a bid of $35,000. Chocolate Pop is the dam of a yearling full-sister to Airoforce, produced a filly by First Samurai this season and was bred back to Sidney's Candy.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
KENTUCKY JOCKEY CLUB S.-GII, $200,000, CD, 11-28, 2yo,
1 1/16m, 1:45.48, sy.
1–AIROFORCE, 122, c, 2, by Colonel John
1st Dam: Chocolate Pop (MSP), by Cuvee
2nd Dam: White Chocolate, by With Approval
3rd Dam: Cee Knows, by Known Fact
($20,000 Ylg '14 FTKOCT; $350,000 2yo '15 OBSAPR). O-John C.
Oxley; B-Stewart M. Madison (KY); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Julien R.
Leparoux. $114,080. Lifetime Record: GISP, 4-3-1-0, $516,080.
Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
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2–Mor Spirit, 122, r, 2, Eskendereya–Im a Dixie Girl, by Dixie
Union. ($85,000 Ylg '14 FTKOCT; $650,000 2yo '15 FTFMAR).
O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Elkstone Group, LLC (PA); T-Bob
Baffert. $36,800.
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3–Mo Tom, 122, c, 2, Uncle Mo–Caroni, by Rubiano. ($150,000
Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-G M B Racing; B-Hargus & Sandra Sexton &
Silver Fern Farm (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss. $18,400.
Margins: 1 3/4, HD, 1HF. Odds: 3.50, 2.40, 16.00.
Also Ran: Gun Runner, Annual Report, My Majestic Flight, Perfect Saint, Tom's Ready, Rated R Superstar, Nana Looch, Derby Express, Force It, Uncle Jerry. Scratched: Discreetness. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.