BREEDERS CUP SATURDAY CONFIRMS BRICKS & MORTAR AS HORSE OF YEAR – REDEMPTION FOR VINO ROSSO IN CLASSIC BUT FATALITY SOURS THE MOOD

Breeders Cup Saturday kicked off with the Filly & Mare Sprint and just like the day before favorite backers got off to a good start when 6-4 shot COVFEFE obliged over local star Bellafina. It was the second win on the weekend for trainer Brad Cox who is starting to challenge Chad Brown in his own way with the females. The winner is by leading sire Into Mischief and cost $250,000 as a yearling. The inside post initially had her boxed in but she soon came into her own when she moved three wide to hold off a strong bid from the runner up who came up short by ¾length. Joel Rosario was the winning rider and the new millionairess now has six wins from eight starts Her other major victory this year came in the Test Stakes at Saratoga.

BELVOIR BAY

The first of the long shots started with the next race, the Turf Sprint when BELVOIR BAY beat up the boys badly by romping home at 15-1 odds. Not only that, she broke the track record with a time of 54.83 for the five furlong dash and was never headed to beat stablemate Om by 1¼lengths. Trainer of both horses was the in form Peter Miller who trains down near San Diego and Javier Castellano rode the six-year-old mare for the first time in her twenty-eight starts. The English-bred mare is by the French stallion Equiano and the win was the fifth Breeders’ Cup success for trainer Miller. His other two time champion Stormy Liberal could only finish eighth.

SPUN TO RUN

The upsets continued when hot favorite Omaha Beach was turned over in The Dirt Mile by 9-1 shot SPUN TO RUN. The son of Hard Spun led all the way to easily beat Omaha Beach by 2¾lengths with the Korean superstar Blue Chipper in third. Nothing else in the race had a chance and it was the first of three victories on the card for Irad Ortiz Jr. The 3-year-old colt has had an active 2019 campaign including a victory in the Smarty Jones at Parx in September. Trainer is the former stable hand Juan Carlos Guerrero, and the new millionaire cost $64,000 as a yearling. The breeder was Sabana Farm in Kentucky and Hard Spun is currently standing at Darley Stud.

IRIDESSA

The Filly & Mare Turf should have been a coming out party for the odds-on Sister Charlie but she never really liked the hard track according to Chad Brown and finished a well beaten third. The winner was IRIDESSA from Ireland at the generous odds of 13-1 over local star Vasilika by a neck. The only European victory of the weekend was engineered by trainer Joseph O’Brien and jockey Wayne Lordan. Victories already this year in The Matron at Leopardstown and the Pretty Polly at the Curragh proves that she was already a classy performer, so the 13-1 odds were a joke. She now has $1.98 million in the bank and the daughter of Ruler of the World would love another shot at Star Catcher who beat her convincingly in the Irish Oaks in July. It was also first time Breeders Cup success for trainer and jockey and they might be back next year to defend at Keeneland because she stays in training.

MITOLE

After this race I noticed hordes of punters lining up at the ATM machine at the track and they finally got some relief when the fabulous MITOLE came through in the Sprint at 9-5 odds. This is the fastest horse in the world and the son of Eskendereya upended Shancelot by 1¼lengths in a time of 1.09 flat for the six furlongs. Mitole has had a great year only slipping up in the Vanderbilt at Saratoga behind Imperial Hint who had to scratch from this race. Mitole was always going well in the race and took aim on the leader about a furlong out and drew away easily. Ricardo Santana Jr rode the winner for trainer Steve Asmussen to push career earnings around $3.1 million. Other wins this year have included the Forego and the Metropolitan Mile and he now has ten wins from fourteen lifetime starts. Unfortunately he will not add to that as he has an exciting future ahead of him at Spendthrift Farm.

UNI

The Breeders’ Cup Mile looked to me like redemption time for Chad Brown and so it was when the terrific five year-old mare UNI was super impressive in winning at 7-2 odds. She has been good all year, and in beating the only other mare in the race Get Stormy by 1½lengths under jockey Joel Rosario. She stayed mid pack in the early stages of the race and then went five wide, and then took the lead and inched away, under a very vigorous ride. Brown’s other runner in the race was the former John Gosden star Without Parole and he finished a creditable third in his United States debut. As for Uni, she now has a record of ten wins from eighteen starts and earnings of $2.34 million, not bad for the British bred daughter of More Than Ready. The rather small horse had to be supplemented to the race for $100,000 and might show up at Del Mar in four weeks’ time in the Matriarch. There are also plans to keep her in training next year and she might even have a crack at Royal Ascot in the summer.

BLUE PRIZE

Next up was the Distaff and the upsets continued when BLUE PRIZE from Argentina powered like a sprinter in the stretch to beat the odds on certainty Midnight Bisou by 1½lengths. This first 2019 defeat for the favorite was a major blow to the connections and trainer Steve Asmussen. I thought that the ride Mike Smith gave Midnight Bisou left a lot to be desired as she had way too much ground to make up. Smith also blamed the heavy dirt kick back after the race and was clearly not happy with the end result. Blue Prize at 9-1 confirmed her status as a tough customer with ten wins from twenty-three starts for lifetime earnings of $2.69 million. She is a six-year-old daughter of the Argentine stallion Pure Prize and has turned out to be a shrewd purchase for the owners. In a day of lesser known trainers winning, this one is trained by Ignacio Correas IV and the jockey was Joe Bravo. She was fourth in the Distaff last year. Pure Prize is a son of Storm Cat.

BRICKS & MORTAR

BRICKS & MORTAR confirmed his status as an almost certain Horse of the Year By winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf by a neck from a 50-1 long shot called United. The even money favorite is now unbeaten in his last seven starts and has never been off the board in thirteen races for lifetime earnings of $7.08 million. This is impressive stuff for the five-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway, and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr must really get excited when he knows he is starting a race with this amazing athlete. He is not flashy and always runs the same way, staying mid pack and powering down in the final furlong. Same thing here and after the race Brown praised his team for all the work done with this horse. It was the 15^th Breeders’ Cup win for Chad Brown and the biggest of his career. Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck ran third under Ryan Moore who claimed that it was a pretty rough race but he declined to get into specifics.

VINO ROSSO

Last up for the day was the wide open Classic and the spoils went to Todd Fletcher’s VINO ROSSO who gained sweet redemption for his controversial disqualification in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. The 9-2 winner who is a son of Curlin out of the Street Cry mare Mythical Bride was a course and distance winner, so the win was no surprise for many of the shrewder analysts. He overtook the front running McKinzie who ran a great race really in second, with Pacific Classic winner Higher Power in third. Irad Ortiz Jr capped off a massive day with the win that pushed the four-year-olds earnings to $4.8 million from just six wins in fifteen starts. It was also the first Breeders’ Cup win for Todd Fletcher. The winning margin was 4¼lengths for the winner who moved up smoothly on the turn to collar Bob Baffert’s McKinzie. However the victory was badly marred when Mongolian Groom went down close to the winning line and the ambulances and tents quickly appeared to cover the incident. He was later euthanized after suffering from a serious injury to his left hind leg. After the race Breeders’ Cup put out a lengthy statement in order to prevent a serious repercussion of an injury and death that could not have happened at a worse time for the industry, and Santa Anita in particular.