California horses came up short in Breeders' Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. –It was a long Breeders’ Cup weekend for California-based stables. Very long.

On Friday and Saturday, 33 horses based in the state started in Breeders’ Cup races, with Muth (Juvenile) and National Treasure (Dirt Mile) as the only top three finishers.

Muth and National Treasure are trained by Bob Baffert, who had nine runners in Breeders’ Cup races.

Phil D’Amato, who finished second in the trainer standings at the Santa Anita autumn meeting that ended Sunday, was winless with seven starters. His best result was a fourth-place finish by the 51-1 outsider Gold Phoenix in Saturday’s BC Turf.

D’Amato had six runners in four turf races, losing the Mile and Turf to foreign runners, and the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Turf Sprint to domestic rivals.

D’Amato said the class of the European runners is too much for California-based runners to overcome in turf races.

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We need “faster horses to beat the Europeans on grass,” he said. “The disparity between the North American horses and the Europeans is greater and greater every year.”

D’Amato has plans for two of his Breeders’ Cup horses – the turf sprinter Motorious and Gold Phoenix.

Motorious finished fifth in the Turf Sprint as the 9-5 favorite, 1 1/2 lengths behind winner Nobals. Motorious was unable to overcome traffic issues in early stretch.

“He found room a sixteenth of a mile out and it was much too late,” D’Amato said.

The 2024 BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar is a long-range goal for Motorious, who will be raced sparingly in coming months.

“I’ll give him time off and plan for big races next year,” D’Amato said.

Gold Phoenix is a candidate for the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles on Nov. 24 at Del Mar.

D’Amato has won the last two runnings of the Hollywood Turf Cup when the race was worth $250,000. The purse is $200,000 this year.

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