Chilean Star Kay Army Finishes Third in Return in GII Fort Marcy
- Turf Diario
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The chestnut showed signs of the long layoff and surrendered his undefeated record in his eleventh start to an unstoppable Deterministic
SOUTH OZONE PARK, New York (Special for Turf Diario).- The long-awaited return of Chilean sensation Kay Army took place Saturday on the turf at Belmont at the Big A, with the chestnut finishing third in the G2 Fort Marcy Stakes (8.5f, turf, $200,000), surrendering his unbeaten status in his eleventh career start.
Making his U.S. debut, the son of Katmai was game in tracking pacesetter Deterministic, who set a moderate early tempo, but lacked the necessary finishing kick when the real running began, understandably tiring in the final furlong after more than a year away from competition.
Trained by Christophe Clement and ridden for the first time by Kendrick Carmouche, Deterministic—racing for St. Elias Stable, Vicarage Stable, Ken Langone, and Steven Duncker—was dominant throughout. Breaking sharply from post 3, the colt grabbed command easily and cruised through splits of :24.19, :47.93, and 1:10.48, never seriously threatened at any stage.
He maintained a strong gallop to the wire, scoring by 4 1/2 lengths over stablemate Carson’s Run (Cupid), who in turn finished 3 1/4 lengths clear of Kay Army. Fellow Chilean-bred Master Piece (Mastercraftsman) checked in fourth.
“Christophe had this horse ready to roll. He ran well off the layoff last time, but today he was sharp,” said Carmouche, who previously won this race in 2019. “All I had to do was break clean and let him do his thing. I knew from the first jump we were good.”
The win marked the fourth graded stakes score for Deterministic, three of them on turf, having previously captured the G3 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs and the G3 Hill Prince over this same course. He also owns a graded win on a muddy track from last year’s G3 Gotham Stakes.
For Kay Army, the outing served as a needed pipe-opener, and connections will be hopeful he takes a significant step forward next time with the rust shaken off.
