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Fort Larned fires in Stephen Foster tour de force

Fort Larned powered home in the Stephen Foster on Churchill's Downs After Dark night card (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Janis R. Whitman's Fort Larned entered Saturday's Grade 1, $536,300 Stephen Foster Handicap struggling to vindicate his victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic. The E Dubai five-year-old lost jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. in his seasonal opener, the Gulfstream Park Handicap, then ran fifth in the Oaklawn Handicap in mid-April. Whitman, Hernandez and trainer Ian Wilkes never lost faith in their equine star, though, and on Saturday Fort Larned showed why with a near track record-setting performance in the Foster under the lights at Churchill Downs. Fort Larned immediately headed to the front when the gates opened, leading the way through splits of :23 3/5, :46 4/5 and 1:10 2/5. Take Charge Indy, the 9-5 favorite, was biding his time in second while a bit farther back Successful Dan loped along in third. As the field reached the turn, Fort Larned was still motoring along by himself in front. The gleaming bay horse never let up, extending his lead in the stretch to finish 1 1/8 miles on the fast main track in 1:47.45, just missing Victory Gallop's 1:47.28 record time set in the 1999 Foster. His 6 1/4-length victory margin was just off Street Cry's record 6 1/2-length win in 2002. Golden Ticket was game in second, coming with a good run around the turn to easily be best of the rest. Ron the Greek, winner of last year's Foster by a head over reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan, had 4 3/4 lengths to spare over that one's older half-brother and stablemate Successful Dan to take fourth. Pool Play, who upset the 2011 Foster at 36-1, followed in fifth after Take Charge Indy faded to last.

Fort Larned rewarded his loyal backers with payouts of $8.60, $5.20 and $3.60 as the 3-1 fourth pick. He boosted his bankroll to $4,031,417 and improved his line to read 22-9-2-1 with this return to the winner's circle.

Fort Larned had the credentials for a Classic win entering last year's championship race, having taken the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga to earn an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup prior to a third-place run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in late September. He earned his first black-type score when capturing the Challenger at Tampa Bay Downs in his second start of 2012 and quickly followed that with a first graded win in the Skip Away.

Fort Larned kept right on plugging throughout his four-year-old campaign, registering a second in the Alysheba before suffering his worse loss of the year when eighth in the Foster after being carried out and bothered. He got back on the wining track with a three-length wire job in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap before his trip to New York.

The Kentucky-bred colt comes from a prestigious female family as his granddam is dual champion Bayakoa, who saw her record as the only two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Distaff tied last year when Royal Delta defended her title in the Ladies' Classic.

Bayakoa captured 13 total Grade/Group 1s while racking up more than $2.7 million during her time on track. The mare was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1998 and is also the granddam of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Affluent.

One of Bayakoa's daughters is Fort Larned's dam, the Broad Brush mare Arlucea, who strangely enough has the same exact name as Bayakoa's dam, the Good Manners mare Arlucea.

Fort Larned is half-brother to dual Grade 1-placed Izarra as well as stakes runner-up Moonport.

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