For the first 11 races of this year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting, the racing was a sobering lesson for European owners, trainers and racing fans on just how difficult it is to send a horse 6,000 miles simply to compete against the best that the world’s biggest racing industry can muster, never mind beat them. The last two races, though, were a reminder of the possibilities, even if Toast Of New York’s extraordinary run in the Classic came up a nose short of perfection.
Moments later it seemed possible – likely, even – that Jamie Osborne’s brave bull of a colt would get the race in the stewards’ room. Bayern, who made all the running to win, caused interference to two opponents leaving the stalls, so much so that most of the Americans in the press box seemed to believe that in an ordinary race on another day Bayern would have been long odds-on to lose the race.
The Classic is a $5m (£3.1m) race and it costs plenty to compete, above all if you are travelling from abroad, so the rule which the stewards used to reach their decision deserves some scrutiny. It says that disqualification should result if interference causes an opponent “to lose stride, ground or position in a part of the race where the horse loses the opportunity to place where it might be reasonably expected to finish”.
Shared Belief, the favourite for the Classic, was on Bayern’s inside and suffered most from the incident, prompting Mike Smith, his jockey, to say: “I think it cost me the race.” Shared Belief finished fourth, three-and-a-half lengths behind California Chrome, while the frontrunner Moreno was also hampered in the incident and thus unable to challenge Bayern for the lead.
Ground, momentum and position lost at the start can be just as significant as it is when lost at the finish, a very basic point that the stewards seem to have ignored entirely in reaching their decision. It is not simply a case of having time to catch up. Being forced to do so must compromise a horse’s chance of reaching the best possible position at the finish.
Yet stewards the world over do not like amending big-race results – remember the Gold Cup in March? – and it has to be said that Bayern was every bit as courageous and deserving as Toast Of New York and California Chrome in one of the great three-way finishes.
Should Toast Of New York have got the race and the $2.6m prize? On any fair reading of the rules, the answer is probably yes. But while the money for second is nowhere near as good, Toast Of New York could hardly have emerged from the race with any more credit, and this, hopefully, is just the start.
The British Horseracing Authority’s marketing arm had been pushing the British side of the European challenge in the run-up to the meeting, trying to attract new fans by emphasising how many horses the country sends to races around the world, and how successful they are when they arrive.
As it turned out, only France secured a victory, as Karakontie recorded a convincing win in the Mile with Anodin completing a 1-2 for Chantilly. Telescope, Dank and Toronado were all British-trained favourites for their races on Saturday, but they all failed to trouble the judge.
While the marketing people’s main focus was on the turf horses, though, they still managed to leave California with an outstanding new ally in their campaign. Toast Of New York is a magnificent racehorse in a relatively small yard who can now set out to conquer the world.
The European 1-2-3 in the Mile, a race that had been won by American horses for the last three years, showed once again that, on grass, the best Europeans can always be competitive with the best Americans. But Toast Of New York’s run in the Classic, a year on from War Of Attrition’s close third in the same race, underlined that the right horses – in terms of pedigree, physique and action – can give America’s finest a race on the dirt too.
The local clockers had been admiring Toast Of New York’s build, attitude and action all week and their optimism about his ability to act on dirt was not misplaced. A smart ride by Jamie Spencer certainly helped, as he got Toast Of New York out quickly and then gunned up to settle behind the leader at the turn, out of the kickback and with all options open, but it was his colt’s raw talent and willing attitude which carried him so close to a historic success.
He has put on 30kg in muscle since winning a tiny race at Wolverhampton by 16 lengths a year earlier, and it is quite possible that an even better Toast Of New York will line up for the Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race, in March. Now that Meydan has reverted from a synthetic surface to dirt, some of the best American middle-distance horses may be tempted by the $10m purse, but on Saturday’s form, Toast Of New York will be a worthy favourite to beat them all.
If he can, a campaign geared towards the Breeders’ Cup Classic in Keeneland in 12 months time, when the autumnal climate should favour the Europeans, would be the obvious next step.
British racing did not leave Santa Anita with a winner at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, but it returned with a new hero instead. That, in the long run, could prove to be much more valuable.
