Horsephotos

Action This Day with David Flores up wins the 2003 Breeders' Cup Juvenile by 2 1/4 lengths on Saturday at Santa Anita Park.

Hughes is the owner of Action This Day, who rallied from last and weaved his way through the field under David Flores to win Saturday's $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile by 2 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita. No Juvenile winner has returned to win the Kentucky Derby the following spring. Only 11 of the previous 19 Juvenile winners have tried.

In the spring, Hughes made it to the Derby with Atswhatimtalknbout, who tried to become the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without having raced at 2.

"If we had the hole in the Kentucky Derby for Atswhatimtalknbout that we had yesterday, we would have won the Kentucky Derby," Hughes said Sunday. "We missed second by a nose and we didn't get to run till midstretch. It was just bad racing luck."

With Action This Day, Hughes and trainer Richard Mandella had nothing but good racing luck. Action This Day, a son of Kris S., did not even get to the races until Sept. 5, when he finished a late-running second in a one-mile maiden race at Del Mar. Twenty-three days later, Action This Day rallied from far back to win his maiden by a nose on opening day of the Santa Anita meet.

In the month between the maiden win and Saturday's Juvenile, Action This Day was improving so much daily that Mandella was touting the horse to anyone who would listen. Mandella appeared to like Action This Day better than Siphonizer and Minister Eric, Juvenile starters Mandella had trained to a one-two finish in the Del Mar Futurity.

"It's rare that a young colt would give you confidence like that," Mandella said of Action This Day. "But he did, and when you got it and you're 53 years old, you got to go. You might not have tomorrow."

In the Juvenile, Action This Day was last for the opening half-mile, which went in 45.17 seconds and was hotly contested by Mambo Train, Chapel Royal, Race for Glory, and Cuvee, who was the favorite.

At the five-furlong pole, Flores began to work on Action This Day, and who found another gear, joining the field entering the turn and knifing through horses around the turn. Action This Day found an opening between horses and accelerated past Chapel Royal in deep stretch.

Action This Day covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.62, which was .87 seconds slower than Halfbridled's final time in the Juvenile Fillies.

"Going to the first turn I could see everybody just battle for position and I was just very comfortable back there," Flores said. "I knew there was going to be tremendous speed. I started working on him after the five-eighths pole. By the time we got to the turn, this horse was unbelievable. He kept going at a different speed."

The victory was one of a record four Breeders' Cup wins for Mandella on Saturday's card. Action This Day, the eighth choice in a field of 12, paid $55.60.

It remains to be seen if Action This Day will be voted 2-year-old champion. Fifteen of the previous 19 Juvenile winners have won the Eclipse Award. In 1995, Unbridled's Song won the Juvenile, but Maria's Mon - a multiple Grade 1 winner - was voted champion. Maria's Mon missed the Juvenile due to injury.

This year, several graded-stakes-winning 2-year-olds - Birdstone, Eurosilver, Ruler's Court, and Silver Wagon - skipped the Juvenile. Cuvee, who had won 4 of 5 starts, including three stakes, finished last in the Juvenile.

For his part, Mandella isn't buying into any Juvenile-Derby jinx.

"The ones that are smart enough to win the Juvenile might not be the ones that become the greater 3-year-olds; that's a possibility," he said. "You might have a precocious 2-year-old that has a lot of speed, just a great 2-year-old that's not going to ever be anything else. That's feasible to understand and then other ones grow up and outrun him six months later after they get their legs under them."

Mandella said that neither Action This Day nor Minister Eric are likely to run again this year, and Siphonizer, also owned by Hughes, flipped his soft palate while finishing 10th. It was the second straight race in which Siphonizer has done that, and Mandella said Siphonizer may undergo a surgical procedure known as a myectomy to correct the problem.

Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Juvenile third-place finisher Chapel Royal, said his horse got off slowly because an assistant starter grabbed one of Chapel Royal's ears in the starting gate. But Pletcher said that didn't cost Chapel Royal the seven lengths he was beaten. Pletcher said Chapel Royal would be pointed to sprint-type races next year.

Cuvee, who finished last in the Juvenile, is also likely to be kept at shorter distances next year.