Report: Dettori secures dream double
It’s been an exciting and memorable final day at the 35th Breeders’ Cup, but now the curtain is coming down. Enable’s win in the Turf was the undoubted highlight from a European point of view, but Frankie Dettori was brilliant too on Expert Eye in the Mile. The Classic remains elusive, but Aidan O’Brien will no doubt try to learn from his latest disappointment and come back with a different plan next year.
Thanks for joining me, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this live blog as much as I’ve enjoyed writing. This is Greg Wood at Churchill Downs, signing off from the Breeders’ Cup.
That wasn’t the result that Aidan O’Brien’s fans were hoping for and his 15-strong team for the meeting leaves without a win, although Magical was a highly commendable second in the Turf.
Going back to Enable’s memorable win in the Turf, there was a predictable reluctance to comment when the subject of her future was raised. This is Teddy Grimthorpe, Prince Khalid Abdullah’s racing manager:
I think the important thing is to at least sit back and just enjoy this. We tend to move on far too quickly. Really the enormity of this, for the whole team, it’s been so emotional. I’m sure Prince Khalid will want to at least sit back and enjoy this. There’s no great hurry.
That was a big run by Thunder Snow, who shares the dubious distinction with Mendelssohn of having finished last in a Kentucky Derby. Yoshida was fourth, by the way, with Mendelssohn fifth.
Ryan Moore did his best to take control of proceedings aboard Mendelssohn in the Classic, but Accelerate was just the better horse on the day and perfectly positioned to strike for home at the top of the stretch.
Roaring Lion, meanwhile, finished last on his final trip to the track. The stud farm beckons for him.
Mendelssohn went straight into the lead under Ryan Moore and was still there as they turned for home, but he couldn’t keep it up as Accelerate moved on in the stretch. Thunder Snow briefly threatened the favourite was too strong.
A thrilling race for the Classic, and John Sadler finally has his Breeders’ Cup winner at the 45th attempt, and in the biggest race of the lot.
BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC RESULT:
1 ACCELERATE, 2. Gunnevera, 3. Thunder Snow.
Post time for the Breeders Cup Classic!
I’ve tried to tell myself I shouldn’t, but I can’t resist a small bet on Mendelssohn. I just feel his whole season has been building up to this moment.
Excitement gathering rapidly here at Churchill Downs. Enable’s win was special, is there anything to come that can top it?
McKinzie is 7-2 for Bob Baffert and Big Money Mike, while Catholic Boy is a 4-1 chance. Mendelssohn is 13-1 to give Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore a famous win, while Thunder Snow the same price to win for Saeed bin Suroor. Roaring Lion, the best mile-and-a-quarter performer in Europe this year, is 18-1.
The betting is very open for the Classic, with Accelerate narrowly favoured at 3-1.
Amid all the excitement about Enable, the runners are out on the dirt for the final race of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, the Classic.
Frankie Dettori is in the interview room.
I was waiting for her to give me the message that she was ready to go, and I could see Magical on my inside. Magical took me on pretty early and then it was a punch-up to see who was the best. She went half a length up and I knew she was fighting for me but Ryan [Moore] was like a wasp that wouldn’t go away. The ground made it hard for her today, but she’s a superstar.”
Enable won by three-quarters of a length, and it was nearly 10 lengths back to Sadler’s Joy.
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Another flying dismount is imminent and why not? Nearly a quarter of a century after his first Breeders’ Cup winner here, Dettori now has 14 and he still keeps getting it absolutely right when it matters most. Ryan Moore also rode an excellent race on Magical but Enable, the 4-5 favourite, was just a little bit better on the day.
Three on the board now for the visitors at the Breeders’ Cup and that’s the one that really matters. Thirty two years after Dancing Brave became the first of eight Arc winners to try and fail to win at the Breeders’ Cup, Enable has done it in the same colours.
Frankie Dettori was poised and travelling well in fifth as they went down the back, and then challenged four wide around the turn. Enable and Magical quickly went clear and Enable started to get on top as they ran into the final furlong. She stayed on all the way to the line to beat a brave opponent.
A brilliant performance by Enable to see off the strong challenge of Magical and become the first Arc winner to win at the Breeders’ Cup.
BREEDERS’ CUP TURF RESULT:
1 ENABLE, 2. Magical, 3. Sadler’s Joy.
Approaching the gate for the Turf.
Four minutes to post time for the Turf. Enable has eased a little to 3-5, while there is also a little support for Bill Mott’s Channel Maker, a Grade One winner at Belmont last time out.
The bugler sounds reveille and they are heading out onto the track for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Can Enable become the first Arc winner to follow up at the Breeders’ Cup in the same year? The grandstand will be knee-deep in discarded betting tickets if she can’t.
As Frankie Dettori attempts to complete a famous double on Enable, here’s the replay of his win on Expert Eye in the Mile.
REPLAY: EXPERT EYE wins the #BreedersCup Mile at @ChurchillDowns! #BC18 🏇🏼 pic.twitter.com/omUEt7qs8G
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 3, 2018
Magical, who took the Filly & Mare on Champions Day at Ascot last time, is the second-favourite ahead of Waldgeist with most British bookies, but currently showing at 14-1 at the track.
Waldgeist has about two lengths to find with Enable on their running in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp last month:
Enable is currently showing as a 2-5 chance on the tote here at Churchill. Andre Fabre’s Waldgeist is the only other runner in the 13-strong field at single figure odds - perhaps they still remember his incredible win with Arcangues in the Classic in 1993, which is still the biggest upset in Breeders’ Cup history.
And now we reach the climax of the card. Enable is in the paddock before what might, or might not, be the final race of her brilliant career.
A fine win for Monomoy Girl, though the runner-up was closing her down at the line, but not the duel that everyone hoped to see. Abel Tasman ran no sort of race - she was close behind the pace as they prepared to turn out of the back, but as the race developed in earnest, she simply dropped away.
BREEDERS' CUP DISTAFF RESULT:
1 MONOMOY GIRL 2. Wow Cat, 3 Midnight Bisou.
Updated
Monomoy Girl in front, she’s going clear...
This looks perfectly set for a stretch duel between the favourites .. but no, Abel TAsman fading.
Down the back now, Abel Tasman close behind Monomoy Girl in third.
Wonder Gadot leads, Monomoy Girl in close pursuit.
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff!
Hate to keep bringing this up, but Catapult’s narrow defeat in the Mile means that John Sadler is now 0-44 at the Breeders’ Cup. Accelerate in the Classic is his last chance to break the hoodoo this year.
Amid the excitement over Expert Eye’s win in the Mile, the runners have been parading for the Distaff in 10 minutes’ time. Monomoy Girl and Abel Tasman, the Kentucky Oaks winners over today’s course and distance in 2018 and 2017 respectively, are locked together in the betting at 2-1.
Here’s Monomoy Girl’s Oaks win:
And this is Abel Tasman in the same race last year:
Sir Michael Stoute was basically just asked whether he expects to be training Expert Eye next year. His non-committal response did rather suggest that he won’t be.
Frankie is in the interview room.
He broke good then took a false step and I had to switch to Plan B. I asked him to pick up around the turn and he took off from there.
Sir Michael Stoute was also responsible for Queen’s Trust, Dettori’s last winner at the Breeders’ Cup, two years ago and the trainer now has eight winners at the meeting in all, the best performance by any British trainer by some way.
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Expert Eye was eighth as they turned out of the back but Dettori made ground wide as they rounded the turn and was sixth as they straightened up. It looked for all the world as though Catapult and Analyze It would fight out the finish as the pair of them shot a couple of lengths clear but they gave Expert Eye something to aim at and once Dettori got him running, he cut them down with a stride or two to spare. Brilliant stuff, and a second European-trained winner at the meet.
Dettori debuted his famous flying dismount at Chuchill Downs after winning on Barathea in 1994, and he’s about to do it again 24 years later.
That really is one for the Dettori scrapbook.
Brilliance in the saddle by Frankie Dettori, who delivered Expert Eye right on the line to win his 13th race at the Breeders’ Cup. Analyze It, Divisidero and Catapult were fighting it out well inside the final furlong but Frankie and Expert Eye came over the top and got them at the wire with a little something to spare.
BREEDERS' CUP MILE RESULT:
1 EXPERT EYE, 2. Catapult, 3. Analyze It.
Updated
Expert Eye finishing fast...
They’re past halfway, Catapult goes five wide round the turn, coming into the straight.
Analyze It leads down the back, Lightning Spear just behind, Happily also close up.
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Mile!
They are at the gate for the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
The one I like here is Happily, who got upset in the stalls at Ascot last time out and missed out on a run in the QEII when the starter let them go. Aidan O’Brien seemed rather put out about that earlier in the week and seems to fancy her to run a big race if she behaves herself at the stalls.
Oscar Performance is still a solid 3-1 favourite here, but Analyze It, yet another Chad Brown-trained runner, is also attracting some support to around 8-1. He was fourth in the Grade One Turf Mile at Keeneland last time.
The riders are up for the Mile, and heading out to the track. The parade is led by One Master and James Doyle, William Haggas’s second Breeders’ Cup runner after Queen Of Bermuda, fourth home in the Juvenile Turf Sprint yesterday.
Peter Miller is in the interview room, waxing lyrical about Roy H:
He’s a sweetheart, he’s a teddy bear, he’s a love. He’s a pleaser, and he’s given me more than I could ever give him.
Even in the absence of Polydream, seven of the 13 runners in the Mile represent British or Irish stables: One Master, Happily, Expert Eye, I Can Fly, Lighting Spear, Gustav Klimt and Mustashry. The current favourite on the local tote, though, is Brian Lynch’s Oscar Performance, the winner of the Grade One Woodbine Mile last time out:
Five down, four to go on the main card at the Breeders’ Cup. Back on to the turf in 25 minutes’ time, for the Mile, shorn of its favourite when Polydream was controversially ruled out by the vet but still a race with a deep challenge from Europe.
Roy H is some sprinter, he had that race wrapped up with a furlong to run. That’s the second winner on the day for Peter Miller, who also trains Stormy Liberal. Both horses won their respective races last year - quite an achievement by their trainer.
He was an outsider at Del Mar last year but Roy H was well backed here to become a dual Breeders’ Cup winner. He is only the second dual winner of this race, which has been on the Cup programme since its launch in 1984. Midnight Lute in 2007 and 2008 was the other horse to repeat, at Monmouth Park and Santa Anita.
BREEDERS' CUP SPRINT RESULT:
1 ROY H 2. Whitmore, 3. Imperial Hint.
Updated
Round the turn, Roy H leads now, he’s going clear ...
Whitmore missed the kick, Promises Fulfilled leads, Distinctive and Always Sunshine close up as Roy H takes closer order.
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint!
Limousine Liberal - it’s the American equivalent of a champagne socialist - is also fancied at around 9-2, though he was only third behind Promises Fulfilled, another runner here, last time out.
The favourite, though, is Imperial Hint, the winner of the Grade One Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont last time.
Only nine runners for this year’s Sprint, but the field includes Roy H, the winner of the race at Del Mar last year:
The races are coming thick and fast now: it is five minutes to post time for the Sprint.
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Wild Illusion fully played her part in making that a thrilling race, but the bare fact of it is that Europe’s biggest ever team for the Breeders’ Cup has so far yielded just a single winner - Line Of Duty in yesterday’s Juvenile Turf. What a ride by John Velasquez, though:
REPLAY: SISTERCHARLIE (IRE) wins the @MakersMark Filly & Mare Turf at @ChurchillDowns! #BC18 #BreedersCup 🏆🏇🏼🍀 pic.twitter.com/hql5M9IHAo
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 3, 2018
The winner paid about 3-1 on the tote here, and is Chad Brown’s fourth winner in the race. He makes a habit of beating the best the Europe can throw at him.
Wild Illusion could not have done any more, but she was just beaten by a better horse under an impeccable ride. That moves Velasquez into a clear second place in the all-time list for winners at the Breeders’ Cup, with 16.
Another fabulous finish, and a brilliant ride by John Velasquez to win on Sistercharlie. Wild Illusion hit the front in the closing stages under what looked like a well-timed ride by William Buick, but Velasquez was poised to strike and delivered Sistercharlie with precision timing to get her head down at the post.
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BREEDERS' CUP FILLY & MARE TURF RESULT
1 SISTERCHARLIE, 2 Wild Illusion, 3. A Raving Beauty.
Into the stretch, here comes Wild Illusion, she’s heading for the lead but Sistercharlie is after her
Down the back now, A Raving Beauty still leads, Magic Wand close up too
Wild Illusion mid-division in the early stages, A Raving Beauty leads. Princess Yaiza also close up.
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf!
She’s the last one, still not in.
Wild Illusion reluctant to go into the stalls.
If you like a grey horse - and who doesn’t? - then A Raving Beauty, another of Chad Brown’s runners in this race, is very well named.
Aidan O’Brien is having a tough time of it so far at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, though he did seem to think that Magical and Mendelssohn, in the last two races today, were his best chances when he spoke to the media earlier in the week.
He has Magic Wand and Athena here, while Princess Yaiza goes for Irish trainer Gavin Cromwell with Andrea Atzeni in the saddle.
Wild Illusion is a solid favourite in the UK at around 15-8 and shorter still on the local tote here at 3-2. She’s just appeared from the saddling box,William Buick is aboard and she looks really, really well.
The betting suggests that Chad Brown’s Sistercharlie is her biggest danger. She has won three of her four starts this year, including the Beverley D Stakes at Arlington Park:
It’s time for Frankie to enter the proceedings in the next as well. He is fifth overall on the all-time winners list at the Breeders’ Cup, with a dozen winners over the years starting with Barathea in 1994 and most recently Queen’s Trust in the 2016 Filly & Mare Turf.
He is on Eziyra in the next, Expert Eye in the Mile and, of course, Enable in the Turf, and a treble, unlikely though it is, would take him into joint second-place in the all-time list alongside Jerry Bailey and John Velasquez. The leader, though, is out of sight: “Big Money Mike” Smith has an astonishing 26 Breeders’ Cup winners.
City Of Light was a well-backed 5-2 chance but not the favourite and we are still waiting for one of those to win after three Breeders’ Cup races so far today. Could Charlie Appleby’s Wild Illusion be the one to do it in the Filly & Mare Turf? We will find out in a little under half an hour’s time.
Here she is winning the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp last month:
So, John Sadler’s quest for a Breeders’ Cup winner goes on and his streak extends to 0-43. Catalina Cruiser never looked like justifying favouritism, as Javier Castellano took charge from the front at an early stage on City Of Light and put the race to bed coming off the home turn. An impressive win.
BREEDERS CUP DIRT MILE RESULT:
1 CITY OF LIGHT 2 Seeking The Soul, 3. Bravazo.
Updated
They go for home, City Of Light leads them into the straight, going clear...
Catalina Cruiser on the outside in fourth, City Of Light still leads, three out
City Of Light away well, Seven Trumpets and Firenze Fire close up.
Off and running in the Dirt Mile!
Nice jockey-cam footage of the Filly & Mare Sprint via Florent Geroux on Golden Mischief.
ICYMI: Watch a unique view of the #BreedersCup Filly & Mare Sprint from the jockey cam of Florent Geroux and Golden Mischief brought to you by @AstonMartin!! #BC18 pic.twitter.com/QxfjVWbFJO
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 3, 2018
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The Del Mar form is good enough to make Catalina Cruiser a very solid even-money shot on the tote here, and the betting suggests that the race could amount to a match between the favourite, who is drawn on the outside in stall 10, and City Of Light, on the opposite side of the starting gate in one.
City Of Light was only second on her latest start, but it was in a Group One - the Forego Stakes at Saratoga, won by Whitmore.
This is Catalina Cruiser winning the Pat O’Brien Stakes, a Grade Two at Del Mar, which qualified her for a start in today’s race.
The Dirt Mile is the next race on the schedule here, the poor relation of the card in some respects but another chance for John Sadler to snap what is now a 0-42 losing streak at the Breeders’ Cup. He saddles Catalina Cruiser, the likely favourite.
Havana Grey showed plenty of early speed there to sit just off the pace after a furlong, but he faded quickly once the race started in earnest. It was a really well-judged ride by Van Dyke on Stormy Liberal - he got a good break, then dropped a couple of lengths off the pace as World Of Trouble kicked on heading for the turn before launching his challenge on the swing into the straight.
An excellent tussle between Stormy Liberal and World of Trouble down the straight. The pair of them went a long way clear of Disco Partner in the final furlong as they fought out their private battle. World Of Trouble briefly looked to have the edge with half a furlong to run before Drayden Van Dyke’s mount found more where it mattered.
BREEDERS' CUP TURF SPRINT RESULT:
1 STORMY LIBERAL 2. World of Trouble, 3. Disco Partner.
Updated
Now World Of Trouble leads, Richard’s Boy in pursuit, into the straight. Stormy Liberal still there, he’s alongside World Of Trouble ...
Stormy Liberal prominent, so is Havana Grey.
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint!
Lost Treasure is 13-1 on the local tote, while Havana Grey is 20-1. They are heading for the gate in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Disco Partner is also proving popular at around 7-2 and his jockey Joel Rosario could hardly be in better form. He had two winners from four Breeders’ Cup rides yesterday. This is Disco Partner’s win in the Turf Invitational at Belmont:
World Of Trouble is the narrow favourite on the local tote and arrives here on the back of two victories, at Saratoga and Belmont. This is his win at the latter track in the Allied Forces Stakes:
Next up at Churchill Downs is the Turf Sprint, and the first of the day’s US versus Europe match-up as Lost Treasure (Aidan O’Brien) and Havana Grey (Karl Burke) go up against 12 of the best turf sprinters in the States.
Lost Treasure is a tricky customer - “he gets there and he waits”, O’Brien said here this week, meaning that this is not a horse that likes to be in front for too long. He has plenty of talent, but Ryan Moore will need to time his challenge with split-second perfection if he is going to claim the prize.
Here’s the print of the photo-finish via the Breeders’ Cup Twitter feed:
Photo finish in the #BreedersCup Filly & Mare Sprint!
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 3, 2018
Shamrock Rose with the upset! 🍀🌹 pic.twitter.com/pSuemY53ya
Shamrock Rose’s victory puts the punters on the back foot - she was a 25-1 chance. The official distances were a neck and the same.
That was some race to start the day’s Breeders’ Cup proceedings. It was a frantic, four-way finish but the photo-finish print shows Shamrock Rose got it with a little bit to spare.
Marley’s Freedom came from a long way back from stall 13, but the winner, who was drawn widest of all in 14, was in the better position to pounce in the closing stages as Chalon’s bid for glory came up short.
BREEDERS' CUP FILLY & MARE SPRINT RESULT:
1 SHAMROCK ROSE, 2. Chalon, 3. Anonymity. Marley’s Rose was fourth.
Updated
Anonymity was the other one in the mix, still not official but Shamrock Rose looks like the winner.
Shamrock Rose was also in the mix there as four horses went across the line almost as one, it looks like she got there. possible she got there.
Chalon hits the front, here’s Marley’s Freedom finishing fast and late, ... photo! Blanket finish.
Happy Like a Fool moves alongside Selcourt, Marley’s Freedom five lengths back, down the stretch ...
Happy Like A Fool is second, Marley’s Freedom off the pace
Selcourt leads by two lengths
Off and running in the Filly & Mare Sprint!
The locals are a lot more interested in Golden Mischief than punters in the UK - she’s currently around 12-1 there.
Nine minutes to post time for the Filly & Mare Sprint and Marley’s Freedom is a very warm order with the local punters. She’s a shade of odds-on at 4-5, while Selcourt and Brad Cox’s Golden Mischief - in the Khalid Abdullah colours - are both 5-1.
So who do you like? I came down narrowly in favour of Marley’s Freedom when I previewed the card yesterday - tips for all nine races, by the way, are at the bottom of this piece about Enable and the Turf.
It could be argued, of course, that Marley’s Freedom has simply been franking the form of Selcourt’s win earlier in the year, but Selcourt has been absent due to injury and it is always a concern when a horse returns from a long spell on the sidelines.
Trainer form will be an issue for some too, as Selcourt represents John Sadler, whose record at the Breeders’ Cup is 0-41. No other trainer in the history of the meeting has so many losers without finding a winner, and in addition to Selcourt, he has three more chances today to break his losing streak including Accelerate, the favourite, in the Classic.
So why is Selcourt the second-favourite today? In simple terms, because that was her last run while Marley’s Freedom switched to the Bob Baffert yard after that defeat and has since won three on the bounce including this Grade One at Saratoga in August:
First up on the schedule in 50 minutes time is the Filly & Mare Sprint, where this race at Santa Anita as long ago as last March offers a key piece of form. It is the Santa Monica Stakes, a Grade Two, and featured Marley’s Freedom and Selcourt, the first and second favourites for today’s race. Selcourt ran out an impressive winner.
Good afternoon from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, where there are nine races are on the programme for the second day of the 35th Breeders’ Cup meeting. The first afternoon on Friday mixed brilliance – Newspaperofrecord in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf - with drama, when Charlie Appleby’s Line Of Duty had to survive an inquiry and an objection to keep the Juvenile Turf. And there was controversy too as Polydream, the ante-post favourite for today’s Mile, was scratched from the race on veterinary advice, much to the astonishment and fury of her trainer, Freddy Head, who insists that his filly is not lame, but simply walks awkwardly because of offset knees.
From a European point of view, the most serious action is later on, in the final two races on the card. First, at 8.56pm GMT, Enable attempts to make history by becoming the first Arc winner to win a race at the subsequent Breeders’ Cup. Then, at 9.44pm GMT, three runners from British and Irish stables – Roaring Lion, Thunder Snow and Mendelssohn – attempt to plunder the most valuable and prestigious race of the meeting, the Classic.
But the Breeders’ Cup programme is about much more than just those two races. Every race on the schedule is a Grade One with at least a million dollars in the prize fund and something to catch the eye, from the intriguing rematch between Marley’s Freedom and Selcourt in the opening Filly & Mare Sprint to the match-up between the last two winners of the Kentucky Oaks, Monomoy Girl and Abel Tasman, in the Distaff at 8.16pm GMT.
It is easy for Europeans to mock the Breeders’ Cup’s claim to be the “world championships” of Flat racing, and it is, for sure, a little overblown. But there is no event in world racing that comes close in terms of the strength and depth of the competition, and it has been the stage for many compelling and unforgettable races down the years.
The news on the track is that the dirt is riding fast and the turf, as it was yesterday, is still described as good, though it looked a lot closer to soft when the horses started racing on it and there has been a lot of repair work overnight, as Marcus Hersch of the Daily Racing Form details here.
If it is as loose on top as it was yesterday, one has to wonder, as Marcus does, “how things will stand by the time the last grass race today, the BC Turf, starring Enable, comes around.”
The Breeders’ Cup action gets underway at 4pm GMT and I’m very much looking forward to sharing all the drama and excitement with you over the course of the next seven hours.
Greg will be here shortly.
