LEXINGTON, Ky. – Having bagged six of the seven Breeders’ Cup Turf races on Friday and Saturday, the European contingent that arrived in Lexington on Oct. 28 was headed home on Sunday and Monday.
The Godolphin horses were scheduled to fly to England on Sunday night, having extracted three trophies and $6.82 million in purse money from the Breeders’ Cup.
The rest of the Euros, including Aidan O’Brien’s highly successful raiding party, travel home on Monday.
LEXINGTON, KY. - Juan Leyva’s voice was still cracking with emotion leaving the Keeneland winner’s circle 20 minutes after Flightline’s breathtaking performance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic when asked to talk about the horse who has dominated so much of his life over the last two years.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Total handle on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday and Saturday at Keeneland Racecourse was a record $161.99 million, according to charts of the races, and a 4.9-percent gain on last year's record handle of $154.45 million.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – He didn’t win – this one – but Bill Mott still was beaming after the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. As the trainer of Olympiad, a distant runner-up to Flightline, Mott was more than happy with how the Classic concluded another sensational day at the office.
“If you could come to the Breeders’ Cup and have a day like that every time, it’d be good,” said Mott. “Yeah, pretty good.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer John Sadler had held his emotions in check all week. He never outwardly displayed the confidence that was bursting inside of him leading up to Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
But when it was over, after Flightline lived up to all the hype - and his 2-5 favoritism - with a devastating 8 1/4-length victory in the Classic before a crowd of 45,973 at breezy Keeneland, the emotions finally spilled out of Sadler.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Winning the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile and the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf a year ago at Del Mar must have felt pretty good, because the same folks decided to do it again.
Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby pulled the Mile/Turf double in 2021 and did it again on Saturday at Keeneland when Rebel’s Romance rumbled home and won the Turf by 2 1/4 lengths.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Throughout her brilliant career, Malathaat has been involved in a lot of close finishes, winning most, losing some.
In what was the closest finish of any of her 14 races, Malathaat, under John Velazquez, lumbered down the center of the Keeneland surface to just get her nose on the wire first over upset-minded Blue Stripe, who nosed out a rail-rallying Clairiere for second in a stirring renewal of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and William Buick broke a shocking two-race Breeders’ Cup losing streak when Modern Games roared home to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile by three-quarters of a length.
The strong favorite, Modern Games helped his connections shake off the deep disappointment of actually losing a couple Breeders’ Cup races, Silver Knott having finished second in the last race Friday, the Juvenile Turf, before Creative Force finished third and Naval Crown 14th on Saturday in the Turf Sprint.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Bill Mott won his second Breeders’ Cup race within an hour’s time with another late-developing and versatile 4-year-old as Elite Power rallied to a 1 1/4-length decision over the elder statesman, C Z Rocket, in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Earlier, Mott sent out Cody’s Wish to a popular victory in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tuesday was out for a lovely Sunday drive Saturday in winning the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, continuing the dominance by European runners that began Friday at Keeneland.
Getting a perfect trip from Ryan Moore throughout the 1 3/16-mile race, Tuesday looped the front pack leaving the quarter pole before taking dead aim on In Italian, surging past her with maybe 70 yards remaining to prevail by a length.
