Woodbine Mohawk Park: American History annexes Breeders Crown Open Pace

American History gave trainer Tony Alagna a third Breeders Crown victory this year, showing early speed and then a stretch kick from the pocket to win the C$657,895 Open Pace in 1:48 3/5 at odds of 5-1. He was the first Breeders Crown winner for driver Joe Bongiorno.

Starting from post three, American History blasted to the front in a 25 4/5 opening quarter. This Is The Plan (Yannick Gingras) also left hard from post ten and secured pocket position, with Dorsoduro Hanover (Matt Kakaley) third and favored McWicked (Brian Sears) fourth.

Kakaley vacated the rail in the second quarter with Dorsoduro Hanover, and he would move up to engage American History, then cleared him just past the 53 4/5 half. McWicked would be the next horse to move, taking up his usual first-over position, but he could only get into third at the 1:21 3/5 three-quarters as Dorsoduro Hanover kept clear.

In the lane Dorsoduro Hanover couldn't keep the rail closed, and that gave American History the room he needed to come through. Once he had the space American History had plenty of pace to go with it as he reassumed the lead and pulled away to win by two lengths. Dorsoduro Hanover wound up second, and Always A Prince (David Miller) closed for third. McWicked had to settle for fourth, and This Is The Plan wound up fifth.

"There's really no words to explain my excitement. I couldn't do it without Tony and his owners having faith in me. This is a fantastic horse, and I'm just so grateful," said Bongiorno. "It's huge. It really helps to give me a lot of confidence being able to drive for guys like Tony and Ronnie (Burke) and a bunch of other trainers. I have a good support system, and that helps me with my confidence."

Alagna trains American History, a 4-year-old son of American Ideal, for co-owner/breeder Brittany Farms and co-owners Marvin Katz and American History Racing. This was American History's 16th career victory, and he has now put away C$1,122,842. He paid $12.10 to win.

"I think that was the key to it, even early in the year, even though he wasn't getting the wins, he was third or fourth to the aged horses, and he was putting in great miles and pacing huge last halves," remarked Alagna. "He had a lot of bad post positions, but now he's a mature 4-year-old. He's later in the year and he's going with these guys. He's showed that he's so versatile. He can do it on any sized racetrack, and he's just a special animal. He's finally showing everybody he's the horse we thought he was all along.

"He just gets better as he matures. Joe's done a great job with him, and he's got a lot of confidence in the horse as you could tell that tonight. Not many people would have done what Joe did, but it was a winning move, and it worked."

"I want to thank the breeder Brittany Farms for breeding a great colt," added racing manager Myron Bell. "We took a little heat because we bought him with one bid back in Lexington a few years ago for $150,000, and Marvin (Katz) and all of our great partners stuck with us. We thought he was a great horse, and now he's proven it."