O'Brien-Moore notch fourth Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf triumph with Mendelssohn

DEL MAR, California – Trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore won the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday at Del Mar with a colt named Mendelssohn.

Of course they did.

This was the 11th edition of the Juvenile Turf. Moore and O’Brien have won four of them.

O’Brien had to work for this one. Mendelssohn has required a lot of tinkering to get right. Mendelssohn finished eighth, beaten 16 lengths, in his debut, and after winning a minor race second out, he was seventh, beaten more than 30 lengths, in his stakes debut. At his Ballydoyle training center in Ireland, O’Brien, who repeatedly called Mendelssohn “green” and “babyish,” tried working his horse in blinkers.

“In his work, he grew another leg,” O’Brien said. “But we weren’t sure about his work until we went to the Dewhurst.”

O’Brien won the Group 1 Dewhurst with another horse, U S Navy Flag, but Mendelssohn improved immensely, finishing second. The raw material had always been there. The colt’s owners – Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith – paid $3 million to acquire Mendelssohn as a yearling, a hefty sum even by their standards.

“I think one or two people quibbled about his yearling price,” Tabor said. “I don’t think they’re quibbling now.”

One reason Mendelssohn fetched such a high price: By Scat Daddy, he’s a half-brother to the champion Beholder. The pedigree leans dirt, and O’Brien would have run Mendelssohn in the BC Juvenile on Saturday had he felt the colt was seasoned enough, but, lacking experience, he decided to wait to try Mendelssohn on dirt.

Now Mendelssohn has a major dirt target: the Kentucky Derby.

He’ll have to earn qualifying points, and is done racing for this year, but O’Brien could use the new European Road to the Kentucky Derby in March, or send Mendelssohn to Dubai for the UAE Derby.

Mendelssohn was studdish and excited in the paddock, but he did everything right in his race. Breaking from post 1, he was away cleanly under Moore, briefly leading before Sands of Mali and Flameaway hooked up through a hot first quarter-mile in 22.83 seconds. Moore settled into the pocket just behind the leaders and sat there for a good long bit. Mendelssohn traveled strongly and held his position down the backstretch and around the far turn, and when Flameway faded shortly after turning for home, Moore switched out one path, came around Sands of Mali, and had his fourth Juvenile Turf in the bag.

“He’s still a little bit of a work in progress,” Moore said. “He traveled round there well, but just stargazing in the last furlong. There was more there if I needed it.”

Off a half-mile in 46.87 and six furlongs in 1:11.29, Mendelssohn got his one mile on firm turf in 1:35.97, paying $11.60 to win as the mild favorite. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

Untamed Domain, 13th in the early and middle going, came wide into the stretch and finished well for second, a length behind the winner and a half-length in front of Voting Control.

“You’re happy to be second, but you only have one shot at these races,” trainer Graham Motion said. “He ran awesome. He just wasn’t super sharp away from there, but he never has been.”

Voting Control kept up closer to the pace than he had finishing second in the Pilgrim Stakes, but could not quite go with the top two.

“We wanted to use him a little bit to get a spot, which Javier executed perfectly,” trainer Chad Brown said. “At one point he was following the winner, and as it turns out he was a good horse to follow. I’m proud of the horse.”

Catholic Boy, who had an inside trip, just missed third by a head, and was a half-length in front of the second European home, Beckford. Then came Masar, My Boy Jack, Flameaway, Sands of Mali, James Garfield, Rajasinghe, Snapper Sinclair, Encumbered, and Hemp Hemp Hurray.

Masar’s performance was better than his raw finish. Jockey William Buick said Masar hit the second turn slightly awkwardly, and Buick lost one of his stirrups. He rode the rest of the way one-legged, and Masar did well to get sixth.

“I couldn’t ride him properly,” Buick said. “It’s never happened before, and I don’t really know why it happened now.”

What happened several lengths in front of Masar is something we’re getting used to seeing in the Juvenile Turf: Ryan Moore riding the winner for Aidan O’Brien.