Just when one thinks Mike Maker could not possibly claim yet another horse and turn it into a long-distance graded stakes winner on turf, the trainer does it again.
Maker repeated the feat May 18 at Churchill Downs when Sugoi , a $50,000 claim last month by Peter Proscia’s Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, upset the $241,250 Louisville Stakes (G3T).
.@kaitlinefree catches up with Louisville S. (G3) winning trainer Michael Maker who recently acquired Sugoi. pic.twitter.com/9bIv23tgL4
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 19, 2024
Jockey Julien Leparoux was also instrumental in Saturday night’s victory by slowing down the pace in the 1 1/2-mile Louisville with his front-running mount. Fractions of :50.25, 1:15.81, 1:41.12, and 2:05.81 left Sugoi with enough in the tank to turn back a midstretch bid from runner-up Strong Tide and a belated rally from show finisher The Grey Wizard . He won by a 1 1/4 lengths and was timed in 2:30.37 on firm turf.
Favored Bold Act was a wide fourth.
Maker’s two other starters, Quadra Island and Guntown , were unplaced.
Maker said he had tried unsuccessfully to claim Sugoi a year or two ago. Then, last month at Keeneland, he tried again, taking the Karakontie gelding out of a $50,000 claiming race that he won by a neck. He watched him through the winter and noted how he “refused to lose.”
“Been dying to stretch him out, get him loose on the lead,” said the two-time Louisville-winning trainer.
Leparoux won the Louisville for the fourth time.
Maker said the $600,000 United Nations Stakes (G2T) July 20 at Monmouth Park is a summer goal for Sugoi.