ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 Awesome Again is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Mongolian Groom won it all right, and while you’re wrapping your head around his 25-1 upset, consider that the “in” part isn’t quite done yet, as he’s not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup. That was the strange ending to a strange race on a strange day at Santa Anita, which featured a pair of Win and You’re In races for the Breeders’ Cup here five weeks hence, and was marred by a fatal accident in an earlier allowance race. The Awesome Again, on paper, looked like a heavyweight fight between major race winners McKinzie (Whitney) and Higher Power (Pacific Classic). But McKinzie, favored at 1-5, couldn’t get to Mongolian Groom after a wide trip, and Higher Power stumbled badly leaving the gate, lost position, and couldn’t make up ground on a track favoring speed. That track profile was ideal for Mongolian Groom, who has been facing the best in the division in recent months and finally got his first Grade 1 win, as did his jockey, Abel Cedillo. Mongolian Groom got to the front, set moderate fractions, turned back a midstretch bid from McKinzie and actually was drawing away at the wire, checking 2 1/4 lengths the best. McKinzie was second, 5 1/4 lengths in front of Higher Power, then came, in order, Seeking the Soul, Draft Pick, and Isotherm. Mongolian Groom ($52.80) completed 1 1/8 miles on the fast main track in 1:49.27 following quarter-mile splits of 23.99 seconds, 48.29, 1:12.07, and 1:36.95. His connections will have a bit more time to decide whether they want pay up to run in the Classic. By virtue of winning the Awesome Again, Mongolian Groom has his $150,000 final entry fee waived. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2019: See DRF’s top contenders However, because he is not yet nominated to the Breeders’ Cup, he has to pay a $200,000 fee to join the Breeders’ Cup as a horse of racing age. That payment is due at the time of pre-entries, on Oct. 21; pre-entries are announced Oct. 23. Will they do it? “I have to talk to the owner,” said trainer Enebish Ganbat, who trains Mongolian Groom for the Mongolian Stable of Ganbaatar Dagvadorj. “Don’t know yet. I’m not the money guy.” Mongolian Groom made nearly all of that on Saturday, with a first prize of $180,000 from the overall purse of $300,351. Ganbat and Mongolian Stable own one Breeders’ Cup victory, with Mongolian Saturday in the Turf Sprint at Keeneland in 2015. Mongolian Groom, a 4-year-old gelding by Hightail, had won just twice in 15 prior starts, and never had won a race close to this caliber, hence his odds. But he had been keeping good company of late. This summer at Del Mar, he was second in the San Diego Handicap to Catalina Cruiser and third behind Higher Power and Draft Pick in the Pacific Classic, then went to Saratoga and was fifth in the Woodward. Cedillo had ridden him in the Del Mar races. Ganbat said he told Cedillo, “Do like you did before.” Cedillo said when no one went, “I took the lead.” His assertiveness, and the decision by Mike Smith – who probably possessed the horse with the most speed in McKinzie – to be passive set the upset in motion. “It feels awesome,” Cedillo said of his first Grade 1 win. “I saw McKinzie didn’t go, so I took the lead.” McKinzie wound up three paths wide the whole way, made a bid in upper stretch, but flattened out. “He gave it to me, but the other horse went as well,” Smith said of his attempt in upper stretch to close the gap. “He was blowing pretty good when he pulled up. He got a lot out of it. You want to be 100 percent for the Breeders’ Cup. Sometimes it takes a race to get there.” Higher Power, starting from the inside stall, took a significant stumble leaving the gate and was last before picking his way through rivals to get up for third. “He broke on his nose. I was kind of screwed,” said his rider, Flavien Prat. “I got shuffled back. Not the trip I wanted. After the break there was nothing much I could do.”