FLORENCE, Ky. – Brian Knippenberg, following in the footsteps of his uncle, managed Hermitage Farm when Carl F. Pollard owned it. Although the farm is under new ownership, Knippenberg still manages the Thoroughbreds owned by Pollard, including homebred Mercante, training a handful while legging others up to head to the track for their career debuts or off layoffs. For a long time, it looked as though Mercante, a son of Pollard's champion mare Caressing, wouldn't be making it back to the track. The gelding, previously trained by Bill Mott, had what Knippenberg described as “a very strange injury," keeping him away from the races from July 2023 to November 2024. "Every minute we get with him is like a borrowed minute," an emotional Knippenberg said after Mercante ($28.50) won his stakes debut, Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park, in a thrilling stretch-long duel with Encino. "It didn't affect soundness, and the good people at Kentucky Equine Hospital, after months and months, finally diagnosed it - a tiny tear, a non-weight-bearing thing, that was irritating a tendon. We just had to keep stopping, and keep stopping, and God bless Carl Pollard for giving the horse a chance, and being patient, and being crazy enough to leave him with me." :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  Knippenberg trains only a handful of horses under his own name at the races, and many of Pollard's star prospects are sent to more high-profile trainers. Knippenberg handles, in his own words, "a lot of RNAs and horses with rap sheets," and initially wasn't supposed to train Mercante. "I was supposed to leg him up and send him back to the Hall of Famer that had him – and I actually wrote a letter that said 'Let me have a chance with him,'" Knippenberg said. The chance paid off. After finishing third at Churchill Downs in his first start in well over a year, Mercante has now won three of four starts at Turfway Park this season for Knippenberg. In the Kentucky Cup Classic, the 5-year-old Giant's Causeway gelding was sent off as the seventh choice in a field of many who were proven in stakes company at the Florence track. Among those was Encino, the 2024 John Battaglia Memorial winner looking to hit the reset button on a friendly course after a disappointing effort at Gulfstream Park. That colt caught a flyer out of the gate and comfortably rambled around the first turn and into the backstretch under his own power, getting the opening half in an honest 47.48 seconds on the Tapeta. Mercante and Joseph Ramos never let him get out of their sights, tracking in a clear second while pursued by favored Paros in a comfortable third. Encino was still moving well around the turn and jockey Luan Machado began to prompt him approaching the quarter pole, as Mercante made his bid. It quickly became apparent the longshot was serious, as he moved within a head of Encino. The leader battled back gamely on the inside, and with the two throwing down the length of the stretch, Mercante edged away in the final yards to a length victory. "It’s a blessing beyond description," Knippenberg said. The time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:49.08. The top two were 6 3/4 lengths clear of the field, with Hush of a Storm, last after the half, rallying to edge Utah Beach by a neck for third. They were followed, in order, by Gamer, Lord Bullingdon, Paros, Tapit Shoes, Highestdistinction, Chiron, and Verstappen. Tall Boy and Tucson were scratched. Knippenberg mentioned the Grade 1, $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic, on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 3 at Churchill Downs, as a race he has "dreamed of winning." But he was already on his way back to the barn to check on his miracle winner even as he said that. "He doesn’t really like plans," Knippenberg said. "He's kind of allergic to plans." Dana's Beauty repeats in Latonia Earlier on the card, Dana's Beauty coasted to a 3 1/2-length repeat victory in the sister race, the $250,000 Latonia Stakes for fillies and mares. Dana's Beauty ($6.80), who pushed her career earnings past $974,000, is nearing the end of that well-traveled career. John Stewart, who runs her in the colors of his Resolute Racing, said he plans to breed the 7-year-old Not This Time mare to Constitution in the coming weeks, but that she could race a few more times this spring. "We’ll see, as long as [trainer] Mike Maker thinks that she can be competitive, and there’s no complications with the pregnancy," Stewart said. Stewart didn't yet own Dana's Beauty when she posted a front-running 2 3/4-length upset score in the 2024 Latonia. About a month later, he purchased her for $450,000, the co-highest price of the night, at the Keeneland April horses of racing age sale, and moved her from Joe Sharp to Maker. Since then, she has won four stakes in his colors – the Ouija Board Distaff last May at Lone Star, the Ricks Memorial Stakes in September at Remington Park, and the My Charmer and Latonia during this Turfway meet. "She’s just won everywhere we’ve taken her," Stewart said. There may be no place Dana's Beauty loves more than Turfway Park, where she was sent away favored Saturday. The mare was confidently handled by Juan Hernandez, who kept her clear and on the outside the whole way, giving up ground in order to keep a strong candidate unbothered. Dana's Beauty was content to sit about two lengths back in third as Takemetothebeach led Sand and Sea through the opening half of 47.21 seconds. Midway on the far turn, Hernandez gave Dana's Beauty her cue, and she loomed up on the outside of the leaders and quickly took command, opening up once in the straightaway. She was never seriously threatened to the wire, finishing the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.95. Sand and Sea held second, half a length ahead of Austere in third. They were followed, in order, by Takemetothebeach, Dazzlin' Dictator, and Long Ago. The Latonia scratched from its original field of 12 down to six, with the most notable withdrawal Everland. The 2024 Bourbonette Oaks winner was listed as a regulatory vet scratch due to unsoundness. Breezing Along, Distorted d'Oro, Dreaming of Mo, Lady Firefoot, and Peak Popularity were stakes scratches. Distorted d'Oro ran later Saturday in the Tom Benson Memorial at Fair Grounds, where she was cross-entered. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.