Despite two races in 10 days at Kentucky Downs about a month ago—one of them at 2 1/16 miles—5-year-old Lambeth told trainer Joe Sharp he was ready for another route.
Sharp listened to the horse and entered Carl R. Moore Management's son of Arrogate into the $396,250 Sycamore Stakes (G2T) going 1 1/2 miles Oct. 9 at Keeneland and came away with his first win in a graded stakes.
Lambeth got an assist from a sharp early pace set by the front-running trio of Layabout, Rothschild, and English Actor that pushed each other through opening fractions of :23.61 and :46.88, with 6 furlongs in 1:11.65. Going down the backstretch, the leaders at one point had opened an 8-length gap on the rest of a stretched-out field.
Going into the first of three turns, jockey Jose Ortiz had Lambeth biding his time along the rail in ninth among the field of 12. They stayed toward back of the pack until the field entered the final turn when the front-runners had faded, and Ortiz steered Lambeth toward the middle of the course. From there, they chased down Limited Liability who had taken command at the top the stretch, but he could not hold Lambeth at bay. Lambeth ($16.98) won by a length and stopped the timer in 2:28.08.
Limited Liability was second and Vote No finished third.
Sharp said he was not surprised Lambeth thrived at 1 1/2 miles, despite his two races Aug. 30 and Sept. 9 on short rest at Kentucky Downs.
"He's one of those horses who after his breezes, he's tough to pull up and wants to keep galloping out," he said. "All the riders that have ridden him have always expressed the desire for more ground for this horse."
Lambeth ran a big race last out Sept. 9 in the Bowling Green Gold Cup Invitational Stakes at Kentucky Downs, where he finished second by three-quarters of length to Tawny Port, so Sharp was not sure he would be ready for 1 1/2 miles.
"It was going to be up to him, and since coming here, he's eaten so well, he's trained with great energy, and his color has been good," he said. "We watched him the last couple of weeks and then made a game-day decision on the day of entry. I'm glad we did it. Usually, if you listen to your horse, you'll end up on the right side of things."
Lambeth was the first also-eligible for the Sycamore and got into the field with the scratch of Mercante.
Juddmonte bred Lambeth out of the homebred French stakes-placed Tapit mare South Bank. The owner/breeder raced Lambeth five times and picked up two wins before offering him through the Fasig-Tipton October Digital Sale in 2024. The colt sold for $135,000 to a buyer identified as Bigman and ended up in Carl Moore's stable.
With Moore and Sharp, Lambeth has a 4-2-2 record from 16 starts and earned $821,127.
"He's just a really versatile horse," Sharp said. "Turf, dirt, and anywhere from mile and a sixteenth to 2 miles and a sixteenth. He's definitely faster on the grass, though he's run some good dirt races. I think since having gone to the grass and his taking such a liking to it, we'll stick to that for now. He's just a great kind of horse to have in your barn."
