Spun to Run scores front-running upset victory in Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile; Omaha Beach second

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bob Donaldson and his wife, Sue, often spent their first dates back at age 14 jumping the fence at Garden State Park to catch the last couple races. Juan Carlos Guerrero came to the United States from Mexico, also at age 14, and went right to work at the racetrack.

On Saturday at Santa Anita, they understandably celebrated like teenagers when Spun to Run, a colt the Donaldsons own and Guerrero trains, scored a front-running win over favored Omaha Beach in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

“This is a dream come true,” said Bob Donaldson, a retired pharmaceutical executive who lives in southern New Jersey, not far from where Garden State stood, a little farther from Parx, where Guerrero is based and Spun to Run had made his three most recent starts.

“This means so much, so much to me,” Guerrero said.

Spun to Run ($20.20) went right to the front under Irad Ortiz Jr. and never looked back. He clicked off fractions of 23.05 seconds for the quarter, 46.51 seconds for the half, and 1:10.50 for six furlongs en route to a final time of 1:36.58 on the fast main track.

“I just followed instructions,” Ortiz said. “I thought I was going a little fast but he kept going and going and didn’t slow down.

“Carlos told me, ‘Break running. He’s ready.’ I came out aggressive. Too aggressive, to be honest. I thought I sent him too much.”

Spun to Run never was threatened in the stretch run. Spun to Run beat Omaha Beach, the even-money favorite, by 2 3/4 lengths. Blue Chipper, the Korean invader, was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third, then came, in order, Snapper Sinclair, Improbable, Coal Front, Mr. Money, Diamond Oops, Ambassadorial, and Giant Expectations, who broke poorly.

“He’s very fast and he can finish fast,” Guerrero said.

The other potential pacesetters, most notably Coal Front, did not try to engage Spun to Run in the early going. Omaha Beach would have been closer, but, according to his jockey, Mike Smith, he got stale standing in the starting gate waiting for notoriously bad gate horses like Giant Expectations and Improbable to load.

“He was much the best,” Smith said. “He stumbled lost his hind end. He was waiting and waiting. Sometimes you end up waiting for those horses and it impacts you.”

Omaha Beach was seventh in the 10-horse field after a quarter-mile. Spun to Run had a daylight lead a furlong into the race, with Blue Chipper in closest attendance. Blue Chipper made a bid at Spun to Run on the far turn, but couldn’t sustain his run, and tired late as Omaha Beach came charging down the lane, from sixth to second in the final quarter-mile.

Spun to Run was coming off a monster performance at Parx on Oct. 12, in which he got a Beyer Speed Figure of 110. That followed a fifth-place finish in the Pennsylvania Derby, a race that frustrated Guerrero.

“They went too slow. He was choked down,” Guerrero said. “I was really upset. I know what I have. I wanted him to show what he could really do.”

That came in his most recent start, but since the career-best figure was earned just three weeks out from the Breeders’ Cup, Guerrero’s initial inclination was not to press on.

Donaldson, who said he owns five horses, asked Guerrero to reconsider. And when Guerrero saw how well Spun to Run was training in subsequent days, he called Donaldson and agreed to go.

“I said, ‘Boss, he’s doing better than ever,’ ” Guerrero said.

Spun to Run, a 3-year-old colt by Hard Spun, was purchased as a 2-year-old in training at Timonium for $64,000. He’s now earned more than $1 million.

Guerrero was emotional after the race. He has made his own path. He used to gallop horses, lying about his age in order to start earlier than allowed. He has learned to shoe. He has learned equine dentistry. And in recent years he has fought accusations – both personal and professional, all at Parx – that at times kept him off the track.

“My family has gone through a lot the last few years,” he said. “I was winning a lot of races, and it brought a lot of problems.”

This was a win he could enjoy. Like a teenager.