Courtesy of the Paulick Report

Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing’s Concrete Rose avenged her eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf this Friday with a resounding defeat of Newspaperofrecord in the G3 Edgewood. Ridden by Julien Leparoux for trainer Rusty Arnold, the 3-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy overtook that rival in the stretch to win by 3 3/4 lengths. Off at 5-1 odds, Concrete Rose completed 1 1/16 miles over Churchill Downs’ “good” turf course in 1:43.34.

“She had one bad race (Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies), there were a lot of reasons for that,” Arnold said. “We ran her back pretty quick, she’s matured a lot at 3 and ran a good race. She beat a couple of good horses in there. I would have preferred for it not to have rained. But this turf is really fresh, we’ve only run on it three days. We got in on it in a lot better spot than last fall.”

Newspaperofrecord broke sharply and went straight to the lead, taking a two-length advantage into the first turn. Concrete Rose and Leparoux were content to hang back in fourth through the early going, tracking through fractions of :23.53, :47.87, and 1:12.68.

Turning for home, Newspaperofrecord looked an easy winner as she extended her lead to three lengths, but Concrete Rose had a lot left in the tank and was running on strongly. By the eighth pole she had drawn even with Newspaperofrecord, and moments later had left that rival in the dust. At the wire Concrete Rose was 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Newspaperofrecord, with Winter Sunset nosing out Cambier Parc for the show.

“Before the race, she was tough to beat, but she hasn’t raced since Breeders’ Cup, so she hasn’t raced in a while,” Leparoux said of defeating Newspaperofrecord. “My filly was relaxed the whole time, and she made a big run at the end.  I rode the race, not paying attention to the one horse, I just wanted to pay attention to my filly. She was traveling good, and was relaxed. I got out at the quarter pole, and started asking her, and I knew she was going to give a big kick. The question was if the 1 was going to come back to me. Today she was great.”

Bred in Kentucky by Ron Patterson, Concrete Rose was a $61,000 juvenile purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale. The filly won her first two starts, including the G2 Jessamine at Keeneland, but ran eighth in the Breeders’ Cup. She won the G3 Florida Oaks to kick off 2019, and the Edgewood is the third graded win of her five-race career. Overall, Concrete Rose has earned over $400,000.

Trained on the Aiken Training Track by Cary Frommer sold by White Pine owned and operated by Justin Wojczynsk.

By Dede Biles – Aiken Standard

Canada is known for maple syrup, ice hockey, Niagara Falls, poutine and the beauty of its lakes, rivers and mountains.

It also is the home of Mike Keogh, who spends every winter in Aiken training thoroughbred racehorses in a stable that is based at Woodbine racetrack in Ontario for the rest of the year.

“I love Aiken,” Keogh said. “It’s a beautiful town, and the people are so friendly. I also love how quiet it is at the Aiken Training Track. There are all these dirt roads around it that seem to be built just for horses.”

Keogh, 61, has saddled back-to-back winners – Woodbridge and Enoree – in the Aiken Trials’ featured race, the City of Aiken Trophy.

Woodbridge captured the City of Aiken last year, covering 4½ furlongs in 54 1/5 seconds.

In 2016, Enoree triumphed while setting a track record of 51 4/5 seconds for the distance.

Say No More, also trained by Keogh, had established the previous mark of 52 2/5 seconds while rolling to victory in the 2013 City of Aiken.

“We’ve been lucky,” Keogh said.

A native of England, Keogh immigrated to Canada in 1977. He sent out his first winner as a trainer in August 1993.

Gustav Schickedanz, who is a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, has bred and owned the vast majority of the thoroughbreds trained by Keogh during his career.

Earlier this year, Schickedanz celebrated his 89th birthday.

“I was training privately for Gus when he had a stroke just before 2003,” Keogh said. “He decided I should go out on my own and go public because he was going to scale back. But around that time, we came up with two of our top horses, Wando and Mobil, and that seemed to rejuvenate his health.”

It also renewed Schickedanz’s enthusiasm for racing, and he remained a big supporter of Keogh.

Wando was Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male in 2003 when he swept Canada’s Triple Crown. He also was the 2003 Aiken-trained Horse of the Year.

But for Keogh, the thoroughbred that stands out the most among his past trainees is Langfuhr.

That horse was Canada’s champion sprinter in 1996. Langfuhr also ran in this country, winning three grade I races.

“He is the best horse that I’ve ever had,” Keogh said.

Three sons of Langfuhr – Wandofuhr, Viewfinder and Wedgewood – are Keogh’s top candidates for this year’s Queen’s Plate, which is Canada’s version of the Kentucky Derby.

The Queen’s Plate was part of Wando’s Triple Crown sweep, and he was Keogh’s second Queen’s Plate winner, following Woodcarver in 1999.

“My biggest dream would be to go back to England and win the Epsom Derby,” Keogh said. “But I don’t see that happening because it’s around a mile and a half, and Gus doesn’t really breed for distance.”

But if Schickedanz’s program did happen to produce a horse with the right sort of credentials in the future, “I know Gus would be all for running in the Epsom Derby,” Keogh said. “He would do it in a heartbeat. He is a wonderful man to train for. We have great relationship, and we trust each other.”

Trainer Mike Keogh, center, pats a horse that has finished galloping at the Aiken Training Track while Gus Schickedanz, left, watches.​ Photo by Barry Bornstein.