DEL MAR, Calif. - There was a little strain in trainer Wayne Catalano’s voice back at the barn early Sunday morning at Del Mar, a condition befitting what must have been a long and raucous celebration following his fourth and latest Breeders’ Cup victory with Aloha West the previous afternoon at Del Mar in the $2 million Sprint.
Fortunately for Catalano, his horse seemed to be doing a lot better than he was the morning after the race.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Win a $6 million race on Saturday night, enter horses for Aqueduct and Churchill Downs the next morning. Such was life for trainer Brad Cox on Sunday morning at Del Mar, where he reflected on the Breeders’ Cup Classic victory by Knicks Go while keeping his far-flung operation humming on all cylinders, with phone calls to New York and Kentucky.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Steve Miyadi, trainer of Lieutenant Dan, doesn’t know exactly when or where his Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint runner-up will next start. He does know that he’s not itching for a rematch with Golden Pal.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The tantalizing possibility that Knicks Go and Life Is Good could meet in the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park was raised Sunday morning at Del Mar, when the trainers of both Breeders’ Cup winners said that was a likely next start.
Knicks Go won the 1 1/4-mile Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday to nail down both Horse of the Year and champion older male. He is scheduled to begin stud duty next spring at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, but is expected to race one more time, in the Pegasus – which he won earlier this year – before retiring.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Brad Cox made it a point to briefly leave the raucous winner’s circle festivities following Knicks Go’s victory on Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to walk over to his other horse in the race, Essential Quality, and give him a little pat on the head. It was a quick acknowledgement of just how much the dynamic colt has meant to Cox before he leaves his barn and heads off to begin his next career standing stud at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Kentucky.
Total commingled betting on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races held at Del Mar outside of San Diego on Friday and Saturday was $154.45 million, according to charts of the races, a record for the event and up 9.5 percent over the amount bet on the races last year at Keeneland Racecourse in Kentucky.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Even in defeat, trainer Bob Baffert believes Medina Spirit gave a performance worthy of a championship in Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
Though he finished second in the Classic, 2 3/4 lengths behind front-running Knicks Go - who basically cemented Horse of the Year and older dirt male champion awards - Medina Spirit finished three-quarters of a length in front of Essential Quality and 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Hot Rod Charlie in fourth.
DEL MAR, Calif. – If you go with Knicks Go, you pay the price. If you don’t go with him, he makes you pay. On Saturday at Del Mar, Knicks Go hit the jackpot.
Unpressured early, Knicks Go led from start to finish in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, nailing down Eclipse Awards as both Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Yibir was reluctant to end his 2021 season when he ran past the finish as the winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.
“He’s a special horse and I couldn’t pull him up,” jockey William Buick said.
Yibir ($19) needed 2:25.90 to run 1 1/2 miles at Del Mar to win the richest race of his career in the $3.68 million BC Turf. He earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure.
DEL MAR, Calif. – It was international chaos on Saturday at Del Mar, where a mare from Mexico was the heavily favored rage, but a longshot from Japan delivered a shocking upset in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
March Lorraine ($101.80), making her first start outside Japan, won the Distaff by a nose over unlucky Dunbar Road, while the clock struck midnight for 7-5 favorite Letruska. The cross-country star who began her career in Mexico City and emerged this year as the top older female in the United States pressed a blistering pace and backed up to finish next to last.
