Tom Pedulla presents five takeaways from a major weekend of racing that included two Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Races at Kentucky Downs while a Grade 1 race for 2-year-old fillies and another for juvenile colts helped close Del Mar’s successful summer meet.

Get Smokin winning Kentucky Turf Cup (Coady Photography)

SMOKIN’ PERFORMANCE: Get Smokin had never been asked to go as far as a mile and a half in 26 previous starts. He showed he could handle the marathon distance by winning the $1.7 million FanDuel Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes by 1 ¾ lengths at Kentucky Downs Saturday. His front-running effort with Fernando De La Cruz aboard secured a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park. “Going to the lead, that was the strategy,” trainer Mark Casse said of the $41.14 upset win. “We felt we would establish a big lead and hope that everyone else would think he could not go that far. Guess what? He did.” Get Smokin won for the sixth time in his career. His earnings soared past the million-dollar mark to $1,650,497.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: Spendthrift Farm homebred Tamara evoked memories of her mother, the great mare Beholder, when she dominated the FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante by 6 ¾ lengths for trainer Richard Mandella and jockey Mike Smith. The daughter of Bolt d’Oro was making only her second career start after winning her debut on Aug. 19. Smith was not surprised by the ease of the Grade 1 score. “She’s been doing things in her training that 2-year-olds aren’t supposed to do. She’s really special. She’s like her mother,” he said. Added Mandella, “I expected her to run good, but that was a little beyond.”

Prince of Monaco winning Del Mar Futurity. (Eclipse Sportswire)

PRINCELY VICTORY: Prince of Monaco stamped himself as a prime contender for the Nov. 3 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance when he controlled the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity by three lengths as the overwhelming favorite on Sunday at Del Mar for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Flavien Prat. Baffert won the seven-furlong Futurity for the 17th time in the last 28 runnings. Prince of Monaco is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables. The same group owns Del Mar Futurity runner-up Mirahmadi. It remains to be seen whether Prince of Monaco, a son of crack sprinter Speightstown, can handle greater distance. “We won’t know until it happens, but he's done everything right so far,” Prat said.

EMERGING TALENT: It is quite a leap from a winning debut on Aug. 12 at Colonial Downs to a triumph in the $500,000 New Kent County Virginia Derby at the same track. But that is exactly what Integration accomplished on Saturday on behalf of West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. Credit the smart plan to trainer Shug McGaughey. Integration, by Quality Road, set a course record of 1:46.41 for the 1 1/8-mile Virginia Derby beneath Kendrick Carmouche. Dawn Lenert, chief marketing officer for West Point, said of McGaughey’s bold stroke, “Although it was unconventional, Shug felt a graded stake would be the right spot for his second race. And when a Hall of Fame trainer tells you you’re going to come back in a stake, you do it.”

HORSE FOR COURSE: Gear Jockey snapped an eight-race losing streak when he captured the $1 million Ainsworth Turf Sprint on Saturday at Kentucky Downs to lock up a fees-paid spot in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. The 6-year-old’s last win for trainer Rusty Arnold before Saturday? In the Turf Sprint at the Franklin, Ky., track on Sept. 11, 2021. “We thought we had him in pretty good shape,” Arnold said. “He loves this course. Two times he’s won on it, so obviously he does.” Gear Jockey finished sixth in the Turf Sprint when Del Mar hosted the Breeders’ Cup two years ago. The resurgent veteran boosted his earnings to $1,586,651 for owner-breeder Brad Kelly’s Calumet Farm.