American History grinds out win in Breeders' Futurity over heavily favored Coach Pope

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Coach Pope was the first choice in the Breeders’ Futurity. Q B Rocket was the second choice. American History was the historical choice.

Todd Pletcher had trained the Breeders’ Futurity winner three of the last four years and five times overall, and he got his record-tying sixth win in the race when American History ran down Coach Pope and Q B Rocket to capture the Grade 1, $648,125 Breeders’ Futurity by one length Saturday at Keeneland.

Coach Pope, the 7-10 favorite, won a sustained pace battle with Q B Rocket but in the end lost the war. He had a neck on Q B Rocket at the finish of the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Futurity, with the other three runners miles behind the top trio. Title Worthy was fourth, 11 3/4 lengths out of third, with Jaded almost six lengths farther back in fifth. Phone Booth was eased but walked off the course with no obvious problems.

American History’s only previous start, in a 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga maiden on Aug. 22, produced a going-away 6 3/4-length victory, and in that sprint, American History looked like he was only getting warmed up at the wire.

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“I think the distance really helped him, that’s for sure,” said jockey John Velazquez, who rode his second straight Grade 1 winner following Classic Q in the First Lady.

The distance – and a duel between the two leaders.

Q B Rocket, another Saratoga debut winner, broke like a shot and quickly made the lead under Junior Alvarado, but Jose Ortiz on Coach Pope, leaving from post 1, immediately inside Q B Rocket, knew what was coming and had a plan. He quickly guided Coach Pope outside to position him just off Q B Rocket’s flank and keep the leader from getting too comfortable on the engine.

Coach Pope finished second in his Saratoga debut, beating third-place U. S. S. Valor, who won the Grade 1 Champagne earlier Saturday. Stretched from a sprint to a one-turn mile last month at Churchill, Coach Pope made a fancy move to the lead before the three-eighths pole and drew clear to score by more than 12. He was the horse to beat in the Breeders’ Futurity, and Ortiz had no intention of letting Alvarado steal the race.

There were consequences. The first quarter-mile went in a solid 23.52, but the leaders ripped through their second quarter in 23.02, going an opening half in 46.54. Deceleration began early on the far turn.

Ortiz sat chilly on Coach Pope as Alvarado started asking a quarter-mile out, but when Ortiz turned his mount loose after straightening into the homestretch, Coach Pope failed to assert.

“I was traveling well, honestly. I was happy where I was. I was just trying to make one run, hold him together as long as I could. When I asked him to go, he didn’t kick on like he did last time, but a one-turn mile and a two-turn mile and a sixteenth are just two different animals,” Ortiz said.

American History did not exactly storm home. After breaking slowly and taking a quarter-mile to sort himself out, he raced fourth down the backstretch and made progress around the far turn. American History edged closer and closer through the short homestretch run to the sixteenth-pole finish, and with 100 yards left finally looked like he’d get there. He never changed leads but still chunked past the two favorites to win going away.

“He broke a little slower than I wanted him to and was a little far back the first part of the race, but I got him to save some ground, and he took it very well,” Velazquez said. "On the backstretch he got into the bridle, and I got into a nice cruising speed. I was very comfortable. Then, around the second turn, he just kept coming, he just kept giving me more and more and more, and down the lane he got there. He took dirt pretty good, and that’s a plus. He got schooled pretty good today.”

The Breeders’ Futurity is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Race, and American History earned automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile – an entry his connections surely will take all being well. Q B Rocket showed enough to be considered for the race, and surely will be, while Coach Pope will come back in 27 days for another try at American History.

“Maybe he got a little engaged in the race with the inside draw,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “I’m pleased with his run. If he’s good, we’ll come back in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Pletcher tied his old boss, Wayne Lukas, as the most prolific winning trainer of the Breeders’ Futurity. He trains American History for WinStar Farm, First Go Racing, and CHC Inc. By Constitution out of Bloody Point, by War Front, American History brought $825,000 at a yearling auction. The chestnut colt is the definition of chill. He barely lifted his head in the paddock, went about his pre-race business like an old hand, and then ran down the favorites in the Breeders Futurity.

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