The ageless Cloudy’s Knight rallied from ninth place with a quarter mile remaining to narrowly win the $125,000, Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes Thursday at Keeneland.
Winning for the second time in as many starts after a one-year layoff, the 9-year-old son of Lord Avie ran 1 ½ miles on the firm turf in 2:30.87 and gave jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr. her first career victory at Keeneland.
“He’s absolutely huge, got a great stride,” said trainer Jonathan Sheppard about Cloudy’s Knight. “He’s got a great stride, and Rosemary seems to have great rapport with him. All of this came together at the right time.”
Prior to taking the Kentucky Cup Turf (G3) on September 19 at Kentucky Downs, Cloudy’s Knight hadn’t started since September 2008 at Woodbine. Thursday’s win was worth $75,000 and increased his career earnings to$2,255,626.
Cloudy’s Knight held a head advantage on Winchester, the 9-5 favorite in the field of 12 4-year-olds and upward, at the finish. It was a neck back to third-place Yate’s Black Cat. Ramon Dominguez, the jockey aboard Winchester, claimed foul against the winner but it was disallowed.
“At the eighth pole, I thought I might be second or third,” said Homeister. “When Ramon Dominguez’s horse (Winchester) headed him, he just took off with him. He’s very game, aggressive, and he handled the turf course perfect.”
Cloudy’s Knight, who is owned by Shirley and Jerrold Schwartz’s S J Stables LLC, won for the 12th time in 38 career starts and paid $10.20 as the second choice in the betting.