LEXINGTON, KY. - Less than 24 hours after his impressive and heart-warming Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Saturday at Keeneland, life was back to normal for the amazing, 7-year-old gelding Whitmore.
“He’s a very happy horse this morning,” trainer Ron Moquett said early Sunday. “He ate all his food and went for his spa session and terrorized the girls. Just like normal. Everything is good.”
We should have seen it coming from the start. The first Breeders’ Cup race of 2020 was the Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday. Last year at Santa Anita the six participating Europeans looked so hapless in that race that only three ran in it this season.
But Ubettabelieveit was a good third at 29-1 and Lipizzaner was right behind him at 14-1, and later Friday European shippers finished second, fourth, and fifth in the Juvenile Turf and second and third, both at long prices, in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Bob Baffert left for Kentucky last week with three top Breeders’ Cup Classic contenders. He’s coming back to California with plenty of hardware, but with some pretty significant holes to fill.
Authentic beat stablemate Improbable by 2 1/4 lengths in the Classic at Keeneland on Saturday, which should secure champion 3-year-old male, as well as Horse of the Year, for Authentic, and the older dirt male title for Improbable.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Handle on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races, held Friday and Saturday at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., was down 7.4 percent compared to the event’s record handle last year at Santa Anita in Southern California, according to charts of the races.
There were questions back in September as to whether he could handle 1 1/4 miles, which is why Authentic went off at 8-1 when he won the Kentucky Derby after being 6-5 or lower in his five prior starts. And on Saturday at Keeneland, there were questions if, as a 3-year-old, he could handle an outstanding group of older horses, including two from his own barn, which is why he was the just barely the third choice in a field of 10 for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Dermot Weld, one of the better-known trainers in the world, came into this weekend with one runner to try and improve his zero-for-16 mark in Breeders’ Cup races. Weld had said for weeks that Tarnawa represented the best chance he’d ever had to win at the Breeders’ Cup. Dermot Weld was right.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The late, great Joe Hirsch, when asked who he was rooting for in a big race, always had the same reply. “The best story.” And nothing would have pleased the legendary turf scribe any more than watching the 7-year-old Whitmore rally to an easy and convincing 3 1/4-length victory over C Z Rocket in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Breeders’ Cup race can often reveal a great horse, but not necessarily a viable Hall of Fame candidate.
The Breeders’ Cup Distaff seemed to confirm both Saturday, when Monomoy Girl capped a storybook career with a rousing victory in the $2 million race at Keeneland.
Aidan O’Brien notably had never trained a Breeders’ Cup Mile winner before Saturday. Maybe he had been sending horses that made too much sense.
O’Brien got his first BC Mile win in a most unexpected manner when 73-1 shot Order of Australia prevailed Saturday in the Grade 1, $2 million grass race.
O’Brien swept the trifecta with 11-1 Circus Maximus and 18-1 Lope Y Fernandez.
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Trainer James Fanshawe made a smashing Breeders’ Cup debut while spoiling Rushing Fall’s career finale by sending out 17-1 shot Audarya to a neck victory over favored Rushing Fall in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland.
Rushing Fall held off Harvey’s Lil Goil by a head to get second. It was three-quarters of a length back to 73-1 Lady Prancealot in fourth.
