Favored Beyond Brilliant Outfoots City Of Hope Mile Stakes Rivals

Favored Beyond Brilliant scored an impressive gate to wire victory under Victor Espinoza in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 City of Hope Mile Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., as he controlled the pace en route to a three-quarter length win while negotiating the mile on turf in 1:32.61. Trained by John Shirreffs and owned by Lee and Susan Searing's C R K Stable, the 4-year-old colt by Twirling Candy registered his second win from four starts this year and his third overall graded stakes win.

A disappointing sixth as the 8-5 favorite in going 1 1/8 miles on turf in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes July 31, Beyond Brilliant was off at 4-5 in a field of six 3-year-olds and up and paid $3.80, $2.40 and $2.20.

Out of the First Defence mare Summer On the Lawn, Beyond Brilliant is now 14-5-3-2 and with the winner's share of $120,000, he boosted his earnings to $706,780. A pair of Irish-breds, both trained by Phil D'Amato, checked second and third.

Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Cathkin Peak, off at 5-2, finished 2 ¼ lengths in front of Prince Abama and paid $3.20 and $2.40.

With Juan Hernandez up, Prince Abama was off at 5-1 and $3.00 to show while finishing a head on front of Kanderel.

Fractions on the race were 22.67, 46.16, 1:09.37 and 1:21.01.

JOCKEY QUOTES

VICTOR ESPINOZA, BEYOND BRILLIANT, WINNER: “He's a very strong horse for his size. He's not an oversized horse, just perfect. His frame is so unique and he's so powerful. Today even with he's fast pace, he was doing it so relaxed. I always tell John, it doesn't matter how fast he goes as long as he's doing it like that soft cruise that he likes, it's tough for the other ones to get by.

“Winning is always great. He's a unique horse. It was fast fractions but he was doing it nice and relaxed, when he does that and he's on high cruise speed, he'll finish pretty well. Today it worked out. I was proud of him. I needed him to win this time because last time, when he ran in Del Mar, it was a little bit of a challenge for him the way it set up, it was not his race. To come back and win this race, it means a lot for him and also for me, and obviously, for the whole team.”
“It's exciting I'm always excited to start the meet with the right horses and win a couple of races and go forward. It makes my job easy, like riding Express Train today and Ce Ce tomorrow, then next week the babies, I'm excited.”

TRAINER QUOTES

JOHN SHIRREFFS, BEYOND BRILLIANT, WINNER: “He ran brilliantly today. He didn't make the race in September. He got spooked, wheeled and wrenched an ankle. Victor (Espinoza) had a sweet long rein on him (today), and he wasn't fighting him. He was very relaxed. As far as the Breeders' Cup, we will wait and see. We'll see how he cools down and tomorrow and we'll talk to the owners before we decide.”

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