In a breathtaking performance that left no doubt as to who will be favored in the Breeders Bowl Turf, Horseshoe Bay captured the prestigious Ark de Triumph in record-setting fashion. His final time of 2:28.8 lowered the previous stakes record of 2:30.4, set by Ebro(GB) in 2004, by more than a second-and-a-half. It was Horseshoe Bay’s thirteenth G1 win, tying him with Allied Assault and Joe Cayenne for second on the all-time G1 leaderboard. The victory brought the texasace-trainee’s earnings up to nearly $6.4 million.
The race set up as many expected, with the three-year-old dual-classic winner Lex Luthor blasting from the gate to set the early pace. Midway through the race he had pulled clear by five lengths while the eventual winner was 14 lengths back and just beginning his push. As the race neared the final turn, the diabolical super villain had increased his lead to seven lengths. As J Ventura looked back to judge the field, all of the other competitors were struggling to keep pace with his three-year-old superstar, of course with the exception of the 2005 Horse of the Year.
Horseshoe Bay resembled a heat-seeking torpedo set loose on a submarine as he gained ground on his sophomore rival with explosive ferocity. One surmises that Lex Luthor, who ran his fastest race to date, and also broke the previous stakes record, did not know what to make of the situation. No horse had ever run at him like that in the stretch. He didn’t have much time to think, however, before Horseshoe Bay had rocketed past him to win the 2006 Ark de Triumph by 3-1/4 lengths. It was another five lengths back to Jupiter’s Moons, who simply couldn’t match the top two finishers.
Horseshoe Bay received a career-high 113 speed figure for his efforts, while Lex Luthor also ran a career-best 110 speed figure. The three-year-old superstar figures to improve off this tremendous effort in his first battle against elders, and is one to watch for the Breeders Bowl Turf.