Turallure came from off the pace and ran down favored Get Stormy in the late stages to win the $202,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap (gr. IIT) (VIDEO) Aug. 26 at Saratoga.
It was the first graded stakes success for the 4-year-old son of Wando, who is owned by Donna Arnold and trained by Charles Lopresti. With Julien Leparoux aboard, Turallure raced in ninth in the early going, entered five-wide into the lane, and caught Get Stormy inside the sixteenth-pole. He won by 2 1/4 lengths going away in a final time of 1:48.75 for nine furlongs on the good turf.
Turallure, sent off at 9-1, was bred in Kentucky by 4-D Stables and is out of the Wekiva Springs mare Personal Allure.
Get Stormy, winner of last year’s Bernard Baruch, broke sharply from post 11 and took his usual spot at the front. Under Ramon Dominguez, he raced uncontested through splits of :23.95, :48.45, and 1:12.45. Blues Street, Boots Ahead, Moryba, and Baryshnikov chased him, but Get Stormy turned for home with the lead and enjoyed a three-length advantage at the top of the lane.
Turallure appeared on the scene when they straightened away. He entered wide into the stretch and collared the pacesetter just past the midway point of the final furlong en route to his victory.
Get Stormy settled for second, three-quarters length ahead of Baryshnikov. Boots Ahead was fourth.
“At the quarter-pole, I thought I had (Get Stormy)," Leparoux said. "Coming into the stretch, he kept fighting. He made us work for it. This horse has been breezing very well in the morning. I was confident that he was going to run good today.
"He ran the same way when I rode him at Churchill Downs and he won. He broke well; I got him to relax and make that big run at the end.”
It was the second win in five starts this year for Turallure. The gray/roan colt won the Opening Verse Stakes two starts back June 17 at Churchill. Most recently, he was fifth in the Fourstardave Stakes (gr. IIT) July 31 at Saratoga.
“When I saw how fast they were going up front, I knew we were going to close ground," said Lopresti, who said Turallure would race next at Keeneland. "It worked out pretty good. In the Fourstardave he was beaten three lengths, but he lost all chance going into the first turn."
Turallure won three times in 2010 and improved his overall record to 5-2-3 from 14 lifetime starts with earnings of $560,340.
The winner paid $20, $8.20, and $5.70. Get Stormy returned $4.10 and $2.80, and completed a $95 exacta (2-11). Baryshnikov paid $5 to show. The trifecta (2-11-5) was worth $553.
Earlier on the card, To Honor and Serve secured the first win of his 3-year-old season with a dominating 8 1/4-length optional claming win under John Velazquez. A two-time grade II winner as a juvenile, To Honor and Serve was much more comfortable going 1 1/8 miles than he was sprinting, which he did when finishing sixth in the Aug. 1 Amsterdam Stakes (gr. II) while returning from a four-month layoff.
“We needed to see this before we stepped up," said trainer Bill Mott, who trains the Bernardini colt for Live Oak Plantation. "He was coming off races that probably were not good enough for a race like the Travers. I think at one point we thought he was a Travers horse, but the timing of it didn’t work out. It was really good to see this horse back on track. He was much more mature today.
“I don’t know (what could be next). Hopefully there is a 3-year-old race somewhere, (like the Sept. 24 Pennsylvania Derby, gr. II), and we were even nominated for the Super Derby (gr. II)."
