Lure | Horse Profile
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Lure
Lure, a son of Danzig, was bred and owned by Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, began his career on dirt but ended it one of the best U.S. turf milers of the 20th century.
Trained by Shug McGaughey, Lure began his career on dirt as a Kentucky Derby prospect. He won his first race at Saratoga in record time, and won the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct in a dead heat the following spring. Plagued by minor injuries, Lure did not make the field in the Kentucky Derby.
Switched to turf, he won an allowance at his first start by 10 ¼ lengths, and two starts later he set blistering fractions over the Gulfstream turf course, and he was never headed under jockey Mike Smith to win by 3 lengths.
In 1993, Lure won six of his eight starts on the turf and finished second twice to Star of Cozzene, both times at more than 1-1/8 miles, and he defended his Breeders’ Cup Mile title with an extraordinary effort at Santa Anita. Smith carefully maneuvered Lure from an outside post to the lead on the backstretch, and then cruised home a winner by 1 ½ lengths.
Lure won three more times in 1994, with three runner-up finishes, before finishing ninth in his final race, the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs. It was the only one of his 15 turf starts in which he did not finish first or second.
Lure stood at Claiborne Farm, but he proved subfertile. His best progeny was probably the European group I winner Orpen, who has made his name as the broodmare sire of the top Japanese racehorse Satono Diamond.
Lure was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2013.