DEL MAR, Calif. – Talismanic, the upset winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Saturday, is likely to stay in training in 2018.
His presence in the older horse division in Europe next year could give owner Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing a powerful duo of 5-year-olds for that continent’s top races – and perhaps the 2018 BC Turf at Churchill Downs.
Nisan Gabbay, Kevin McFarland, and Christian Hellmers achieved their first brush with fame years ago when TVG profiled them and gave them their long-standing nickname. On a live broadcast, they played the pick six and hit 5 of 6 on a day no one swept the wager. They won more than $14,000.
Yesterday at the Breeders’ Cup, Gabbay won enough money to make that amount look like the tip he might leave at the north county nightclub where he celebrated his win in the world’s biggest live-bankroll contest, the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Caledonia Road emerged in good shape from her upset victory Saturday in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and likely will have about 45 days of light training before trainer Ralph Nicks starts plotting out a course for the Kentucky Oaks in May.
Nicks said Caledonia Road left Del Mar well before dawn Sunday for a return flight to her home base in south Florida. He said the filly’s swift and steady improvement bodes well for her prospects at 3.
DEL MAR, Calif. – As trainer Steve Asmussen made his way through the fading light of Del Mar racetrack shortly after sundown on Saturday night, just minutes after his horse Gun Runner had outrun 10 others in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, Jill Baffert saw him walking through the paddock and ran over.
“Congratulations,” said the wife of trainer Bob Baffert, who had run four horses against Gun Runner. “He’s an incredible horse.”
“It was our turn, right?” Asmussen said.
Betting on the 13 Breeders’ Cup races held at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Friday and Saturday was up 5.7 percent compared with last year and was the highest total since the 2013 event, according to charts of the races.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The best of Arrogate seemed a world away when the sun set Saturday night in Southern California.
The Arrogate who thrilled the world with his last-to-first victory in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March was not the Arrogate the world has seen since. He ended his career in Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic dead-heating for fifth-place with Gunnevera, 6 1/4 lengths behind the winner Gun Runner, the horse he beat in Dubai seven months ago.
“He’s not the same horse,” said Bob Baffert, Arrogate's trainer. “I tried to get him there.”
DEL MAR, Calif. - Talismanic was in fifth place with a quarter-mile remaining in Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar when jockey Mickael Barzalona found a target to pursue.
Highland Reel, the winner of the 2016 BC Turf, was in front of Talismanic, and was the runner Barazalona feared.
“I knew if I could pass him, we’d have a chance to win the race,” Barzalona said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Fourteen horses whipped into the short stretch of the Del Mar turf course, a moving blur flying to the finish of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on Saturday. Several minutes later they’d trotted back home, horses and jockeys meeting grooms, trainers, and owners. Tales of woe abounded: A hard bump, a wide run around the turn, a wall of horses blocking the path to the finish.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Despite the fact Good Magic was still a maiden, trainer Chad Brown had the confidence in the colt’s ability to send him cross-country and run him in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile against one of the heaviest favorites on the card.
That confidence was rewarded Saturday at Del Mar, as Good Magic, receiving a dream trip under Jose Ortiz, stormed to a 4 1/2-length victory over Solomini in the Juvenile at Del Mar. It was one length back to Bolt d’Oro, the 3-5 favorite, who suffered his first career defeat from four starts.
