Breeders' Cup Sprint: T O Elvis finishes with winning rush

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LEXINGTON, KY. − T O Elvis proved he was more than a one hit wonder in the United States and did so on an even bigger stage Saturday at Keeneland. The Japanese star rallied from far back to run down America’s premier sprinter, the odds on Englishman, in the closing strides to register a memorable 1 1/4-length victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

T O Elvis captured the attention of U.S. racing fans in a big way six months earlier when coming off a 4 1/2-month layoff to dominate a strong field, by 3 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard. He gained further notoriety when his odds dropped from 12-1 to 5-1 after the field had loaded in the gate.

The seven-furlong Churchill Downs was the fifth win in a row for T O Elvis, whose four previous victories in Japan all came at six furlongs, and was his last start prior to returning to the U.S. for the Sprint.

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“We were going to run him once between races, but considering different things, we decided to re-focus on this race,” said Daisuke Takayanagi, who trains T O Elvis for owner Tomaya Ozasa.

The outlook didn’t look promising for T O Elvis after he dropped back near the rear of the 13 horse field, more than a dozen lengths off the pace, during the early stages of the Sprint under regular rider Ryusei Sakai. T O Elvis began to advance leaving the backstretch but still had nearly eight lengths to make up on Englishman when turning for home, before unleashing a powerful turn of foot down the center of the track to overtake the leader in the closing strides and win going away.

Englishman had the perfect pace stalking trip under regular rider Jose Ortiz, rating just off the speedy Liam Smith before readily gaining command leaving the five-sixteenths pole. Englishman opened a seemingly comfortable advantage when sharply roused upon settling into the stretch, proving no match for the winner in the end.

T O Elvis, a 4-year-old Kentucky bred son of Volatile, covered the distance over a fast track in 1:08.20, his final time just .31 seconds off the track record set by Nashville six years earlier. He paid $7.58.

I was a little concerned because he was coming off a layoff, but his condition had been improving steadily,” Takayanagi said. “At that point, all we could do was give it our best and leave the rest to the jockey. The trip went as we expected. To race towards the rear, move to the outside, and show a very good turn of foot to finish. Ryusei gave him a very nice ride.”

DeVaux said she was not disappointed in Englishman’s performance even in defeat.

“He ran his race, he was travelling well, I knew that horse would be coming late and he just got up there,” said DeVaux. “The trip worked out perfectly. Jose [Ortiz] did a great job getting him to kind of relax out there. He kicked home and kept running. He couldn’t have run any better. He just got beat by a better horse. He was facing elders for the first time. Hopefully he comes back just as good next year.”

Ortiz agreed with DeVaux regarding the trip he was able to work out with Englishman.

“I broke clean, got over nicely, the pace was very reasonable for this kind and the amount of speed that was in this race,” said Ortiz. “I was very happy with my position. The winner is a very nice horse as well. Hopefully that performance will be enough to win an Eclipse Award for them at the end of the year.”

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