LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Unrivaled Belle, returning to the scene of her biggest victory this year, won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic on Friday night at Churchill Downs.
Unrivaled Belle ($17) held off Blind Luck, the Kentucky Oaks winner and 3-2 favorite, to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Blind Luck finished one length in front of third-place Havre de Grace. Unrivaled Belle sat fifth during the early going, then surged to the lead three furlongs from the wire.
Daily Racing Form race recaps and video replays for the six Breeders' Cup races Friday at Churchill Downs, plus the best Zenyatta coverage and everything to catch you up on Saturday's races:
BREEDERS' CUP MARATHON
JUVENILE FILLIES TURF
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shared Account paid $94, the largest winning mutuel in the history of the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, but to her trainer, Graham Motion, this was no upset.
"We were always pointing to this race," Motion said. "I don't think it was very fair that she was written off after only one bad race."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Awesome Feather proved that she’s not just a south Florida sensation. She’s a national champion.
After beating up on the 2-year-old fillies in south Florida all summer and fall, Awesome Feather took it to the rest of the North American crop, edging clear from R Heat Lightning in the final sixteenth to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by 2 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In the days before the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes, it appeared unlikely Dubai Majesty would wind up being supplemented for a $90,000 fee to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Usually, when seen on national television in the Churchill Downs winner’s circle, Calvin Borel is grinning ear-to-ear after winning the Kentucky Derby.
Friday, a totally different side of Borel was on display for the nation to see as he cursed at and then attacked fellow rider Javier Castellano in the Churchill Downs winner’s circle. Several times Borel shouted "I’m going to kill you!" at Castellano after an incident during the running of the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For owner Bobby Flay, Friday's $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf proved to be the ultimate throw-down.
Flay is the owner of More Than Real, who registered a decisive two-length victory over even-money favorite Winter Memories in the one-mile Juvenile Fillies Turf. Kathmanblu rallied to finish a head farther back in third.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Since its inception two years ago, the Breeders’ Cup Marathon has been criticized as being a yawner of a race, a lengthy contest that lacked the purse, prestige, and drama of other Breeders’ Cup events.
No one will say it lacks drama any longer, not after Friday’s Grade 3, $500,000 Marathon. The 1 3/4-mile race proved a thriller and then was capped by a stewards’ inquiry and fight between losing jockeys Calvin Borel and Javier Castellano, just outside the winner’s circle.
Richard Hannon will watch his two Breeders’ Cup runners, Tale Untold in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday, and Paco Boy in the Mile on Saturday, from a bed at Southampton Hospital in England. The 66-year-old trainer underwent bypass surgery earlier this week and is reported by his wife, Jo, to be resting comfortably.
“Everything went well,” Jo Hannon said on Richard Hannon Racing’s website on Friday. “Having been restricted to sitting in a chair for the last couple of days, he hopes to be able to leave intensive care today and move into his own room.”
Catch up on some Daily Racing Form blog posts you may have missed as we kick off the 2010 Breeders' Cup, and follow along live with Steven Crist, Mike Watchmaker, and the Inside Post blog.
