Ivar finds form just in time

If you think Ivar’s smashing win Oct. 3 in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile came out of nowhere, you need to go to the videotape.

Ivar’s three wins last year in Argentina looked a lot more like his Shadwell performance than did his three previous starts this year in the United States, and trainer Paulo Lobo believes Ivar can run at least as well next month in the Breeders’ Cup Mile as he did Saturday at Keeneland.

“I know it’s going to be a very tough one, but I think this horse is so young and that’s why he has a lot of room to improve,” Lobo said. “I think everything is working for him right now.”

Ivar is listed as a 4-year-old but was bred in Brazil on the Southern Hemisphere breeding calendar. His foaling date was Oct. 4, 2016, so in actual years, he won the Shadwell as a 3-yearold, turning 4 the following day. Ivar, sent to Argentina to race by his Brazil-based owners, was a young 2-year-old in 2019, yet dominated his peers, winning a maiden race before capturing two Group 1s to be named Argentine champion 2-year-old last year.

“What he did in three races there was amazing,” Lobo said.

Ivar came to Lobo, a Brazilian native who is based now at the Thoroughbred Training Center outside Lexington, Ky., last August. Lobo did little but easy training for several months before ramping it up early this year for Ivar’s intended North American debut in April at Keeneland. That didn’t work so well. COVID-19 canceled Keeneland in April, and when Ivar finally raced May 26 at Churchill, he ran flat, finishing a well-beaten fifth, a deep disappointment to his connections.

“I loved this horse seeing what he did in Argentina and when he started working for me,” Lobo said. “At Churchill, it wasn’t so good. He was very unfocused.”

So, Lobo fitted Ivar with a set of blinkers, not trying to get him to show more speed, but in an effort to help him pay attention. It worked, with Ivar winning a Churchill allowance and finishing a brave third in the Tourist Mile at Kentucky Downs, racing on the pace both times. But it was the removal of the blinkers for the Shadwell that got Ivar back to the style he’d used in Argentina – coming from off the pace.

“He ran as he used to run in Argentina,” Lobo said. “The horse has a very big turn of foot.”

Big enough that he should be taken seriously in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

◗ Uni ran herself into a chance to win her second straight BC Mile when she bounced back from a subpar performance in the Fourstardave at Saratoga to capture the First Lady at Keeneland for the second year in a row. Beau Recall, runnerup in the First Lady, also could wind up in the Mile.

◗ Mo Forza stamped himself as one of the leading domestic Mile hopes with a dominant win last Saturday in the City of Hope Mile.