Tag: breeders’ cup classic

Dutrow Back In the Limelight as White Abarrio Scores in the Classic

ARCADIA, CA – Babe!

After spending 10 years in exile with a very well-documented suspension, trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. is officially all the way back.

C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable's White Abarrio (Race Day), a powerhouse last out winner of this summer's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, ran to the money as the 5-2 favorite with a one-length victory for Dutrow in Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita. The 64-year-old's three prior wins at the Championships were headed by future Horse of the Year Saint Liam in the 2005 Classic at Belmont Park. The New York-based Dutrow has been back training for seven months now.

“I don't feel that I am back at the top, but I feel that the white horse is,” said Dutrow, who also trained Big Brown to wins in the first two legs of the 2008 Triple Crown. “As soon as I get stables like Todd (Pletcher) and Chad (Brown), then I'll feel like I'm back on the top. I'm going to be calling everybody tomorrow when I get done with Disneyland and say, 'Hey, I am ready for some horses here.'”

Dutrow continued, “Right now, I just feel like I'm lucky to be around him. I feel he's on the top, and I love being around good horses like that. It just makes you feel like a good horseman, and that's always what I wanted to be.”

White Abarrio, drawn kindly in post two, secured a dream spot on the inside in third as 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo)–off as the 3-1 second choice off a game win against older horses in this summer's GI Pacific Classic S.–and GI Pennsylvania Derby hero Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) absolutely tore through fractions of :22.46 and :45.73 in the 1 1/4-mile centerpiece.

Richard Dutrow, Jr. and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. celebrate after winning the GI Breeders' Cup Classic |
Benoit Photo

With Irad Ortiz, Jr., aboard, White Abarrio began to make his move on the far turn and attacked the top two while three wide nearing the quarter pole. Saudi Crown was the first to blink and White Abarrio had dead aim on the pacesetter at the top of the stretch. He switched his leads right on cue and blasted off for home for a no-doubt-about-it victory while never seriously threatened by Japanese invader and G2 UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), who was making his first start since finishing sixth in the GI Kentucky Derby. Proxy (Tapit), a narrow second in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S., came rattling home to tag Arabian Knight by a neck for third.

“Everything came out perfect,” said the hot-handed Ortiz, Jr., who won his fifth Bill Shoemaker Award after guiding home three winners on Breeders' Cup Saturday. “We handicapped that race perfectly as we thought Saudi Crown and Arabian Knight would be on the lead and we should be third. I saved all the ground on the first turn and then I was able to get in the clear on the backside. After that, it's all about the horse. To be honest, I just let him do his thing and I don't get in his way. When I turned for him, I started to ride him and he kept responding.”

Transferred to Dutrow while former trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. was under fire this spring following a pair of high-profile horse deaths at Churchill Downs during Derby week, the 2022 GI Curlin Florida Derby winner and GI Cigar Mile H. third-place finisher produced a better-than-it-looked third-place finish after stumbling at the start in his first start for this barn in the GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont June 10. He had made only one other start since, earning a career-high 110 Beyer Speed Figure with Zandon (Upstart) and two-time GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish (Curlin) far back in second and third in the Whitney Aug. 5.

“Churchill Downs, we had an issue where they scratched our horse,” winning co-owner Mark Cornett said of the decision to change trainers. “NYRA decided they weren't going to accept the entries, nominations, and I wanted to run in the Met Mile.

He continued, “So I had to make a trainer switch. I've known Rick a long time. I know exactly what he's capable of. This horse was tailor made for him.”

Pedigree Notes:

White Abarrio, a $7,500 OBS Winter yearling turned $40,000 OBS March 2-year-old, is the lone graded winner for Race Day, a son of Tapit. Race Day previously stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, but was exported to Korea prior to the 2021 season. White Abarrio is one of four graded winners for the mighty Into Mischief as a broodmare sire.

The unplaced winner's dam Catching Diamonds, a $425,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase for Spendthrift, produced White Abarrio as her first foal. A half to MGSW-UAE and MSW-U.S. Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) and to the dam of GSW Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief), the mare has an unraced 2-year-old colt named Diamond Lord (Lord Nelson), who fetched $155,000 from Lincoln Racing at last year's Keeneland September sale, and a yearling colt, also by Lord Nelson, who sold as a weanling at Keeneland November for $100,000 to Larry Hirsch. Her 2023 foal was a Yaupon filly born Apr. 15 and she was bred back to Constitution.

 

LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC-GI, $5,520,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:02.87, ft.
1–WHITE ABARRIO, 126, c, 4, by Race Day
        1st Dam: Catching Diamonds, by Into Mischief
        2nd Dam: Grand Breeze, by Grand Slam
        3rd Dam: Breeze Lass, by It's Freezing
($7,500 Ylg '20 OBSWIN; $40,000 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O-C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable, LLC; B-Spendthrift
Farm LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr.; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $3,120,000. Lifetime Record: 15-7-1-3, $4,946,350. Click for
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Derma Sotogake (Jpn), 122, c, 3, Mind Your Biscuits–Amour Poesie (Jpn), by Neo Universe (Jpn). 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (¥18,000,000 Ylg '21 JRHAYF). O-Hiroyuki Asanuma; B-Shadai Farm (Jpn); T-Hidetaka Otonashi. $1,020,000.
3–Proxy, 126, h, 5, Tapit–Panty Raid, by Include. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Michael Stidham. $540,000.
Margins: 1, 1 1/4, NK. Odds: 2.60, 26.20, 17.40.
Also Ran: Arabian Knight, Ushba Tesoro (Jpn), Bright Future, Senor Buscador, Dreamlike, Zandon, Saudi Crown, Clapton, Missed the Cut. Scratched: Arcangelo. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by Fanduel TV.

 

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Catching Up with Breeders’ Cup’s 2008 Ladies’ Classic and 2009 Classic Winner Zenyatta

Thousands upon thousands–likely hundreds of thousands–of words have been written about the legendary Zenyatta, who captured the heart and soul of racing during her time on the racetrack and remains just as beloved today, 13 years after her retirement. Winter Quarter Farm's Don Robinson, who foaled her, was kind enough to share his memories of her formative years with TDN.

“Zenyatta was the ultimate,” said Robinson. “I can't say enough superlatives about her. I could speak endlessly about her.

“The real satisfaction is I delivered her mother, too. I had three generations, so it's kind of the breeder's ultimate reward. Their owner–Eric Kronfeld, who has passed away–over the years we became very fast friends. We formed such a very close human relationship that became obviously closer and closer over Zenyatta's career. He was a great friend. I still miss him.

“My family has been three or four generations in the Thoroughbred business. I don't think we ever could have thought we'd have the good fortune to be such an integral part of such a magnificent horse like Zenyatta. I feel she's the best horse of our lifetimes. I'll leave that to others to decide, but no matter who I run into, people tell me that they feel she's the best horse they've ever heard of or seen. It's heartwarming; it's rewarding; it's all the superlatives.

Zenyatta in September at Lane's End | Sarah Andrew

“The three generations of her family that I had started with For the Flag [Zenyatta's granddam], whom Eric very carefully bred to the Roberto line to get Vertigineux [Zenyatta's dam]. He was so taken with Street Cry that he bred Vertigineux to her and got Zenyatta. I never knew she'd be that kind of horse; you just never know.

“I'd raised all of Vertigineux's foals. It was a really neat family. Balance [Zenyatta's half-sister by Thunder Gulch] was totally precocious. She felt like a quick 2-year-old, so fast and so hot. She was quite remarkable. She'd get away from you. Zenyatta had much more cool; she was a bit more level headed.

“Of course, everyone knows the infamous story about Zenyatta at the [2005 Keeneland September] sale: Street Cry wasn't particularly well received and she was immature. She had a Street Cry hind leg; there was no precocity to her at all.

Zenyatta | Sarah Andrew

“There were really just two people interested in her at all and I think David Ingordo had a little bit of a leg up because Balance was really impressive and he was either in the same barn or next to the barn of Balance.

“Zenyatta looked like a project to many people. She didn't grab them. We thought more of her, but we got her on the ground and raised her well, I hope.

“But the best thing that ever happened was that David purchased her for Jerry Moss, who was one of the more patient owners. He and [trainer] John Shirreffs just really had a sense of Thoroughbreds and giving them time. What a great team. They left the horses alone if they needed it and gave them the time they needed to mature.

“I think that time was really essential for Zenyatta. So much of the key is giving them the time they need.

“My friend Eric Kronfeld said, 'I never could have done that; I would been impatient.' Most people would, but she was in the right hands.”

Zenyatta and Mike Smith celebrate after the 2009 Classic with trainer John Shirreffs in the background | Sarah Andrew

Robinson also talked about Zenyatta's three Breeders' Cup appearances. She won the 2008 Ladies' Classic, briefly rebranded as that name from the Distaff; the 2009 Classic against the boys as the only filly or mare to win the Breeders' Cup's signature race; and then closed out her career with her only official loss in 20 starts in the 2010 Classic.

“My favorite race, what I thought was her crown,” said Robinson, “was her Distaff. She went off–for her–at a fairly long price and was discounted some because she had remained in California, except for the Apple Blossom in Arkansas. She just annihilated the field. That race was, 'Oh my goodness; she's the real deal.' She just performed like no other horse. She was pretty unusual. And then she kept improving.

“When I went to her Distaff, I had not seen Zenyatta since I'd raised her. I was kind of leaning around the wall in the saddling paddock when she made a pass by. She went past me, stopped, and turned her head completely around. She took her time, looked straight at me. There was no question she sensed me. It was like she was saying, 'Where have you been?' She had such a presence. It really gave me the chills. She singled me out, no question. Isn't that remarkable? She was just an incredibly unusual horse. She was so intelligent.

Zenyatta and her team | Sarah Andrew

“Everyone loves the Classic she won, but I think her best race was the one at Churchill she lost in her last start. There was silence afterward. But I came away thinking, 'That was the most sensational race.' She was absolutely out of contact with the field. Floundering. For her to get up and just miss that wire by a head…. I've never seen a horse on dirt make up that kind of ground. It was the best.

“Sometimes I go to YouTube and look up Zenyatta. All her starts are there. You almost end up on the floor, it's so sensational to see her break patiently, get up, and measure the wire. You end up breathless.

“I'm 75 years old and the experience with her has been extraordinary.

“Now, years later, I still sort of pinch myself to think I had a horse like that on this land. To have raised her and to have that sort of extraordinary performance and career and presence and just everything… I can't imagine a greater experience in this industry, but hope springs eternal.”

Zenyatta (2004 dark bay or brown mare, Street Cry {Ire}–Vertigineux, by Kris S.)

Lifetime record: Horse of the Year, Ch. older mare (three times), MGISW, 20-19-1-0, $7,304,580

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Maverick Production, Limited (KY); O-Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Moss; T-John Shirreffs; J-Mike Smith.

Current location: Lane's End Farm, Versailles, Ky.

Breeders' Cup: Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

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Breeders’ Cup 40 is Here!

ARCADIA, CA – Forty looks good on you, Breeders' Cup.

With defending winners Caravel (Mizzen Mast) (Turf Sprint), Cody's Wish (Curlin) (Dirt Mile), Elite Power (Curlin) (Sprint) and Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) (F/M Sprint) all back to defend their titles, the two-day Championships–consisting of 14 races with purses and awards totaling more than $31 million–gets underway for a record 11th time at Santa Anita Friday.

Sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s–welcome back to Southern California!–will be on the menu as the weekend kicks off with a 10-race, 'Future Stars Friday' program.

“This is what it's all about,” Santa Anita track announcer Frank Mirahmadi said. “The Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita, there is nothing that's bigger than that in our game.”

All eyes will be on Spendthrift Farm's unbeaten 'Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) as she looks to emulate her larger-than-life-dam Beholder (Henny Hughes) with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. A terrific field has been assembled for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, led by last-out GISWs and 'Rising Stars' Locked (Gun Runner), Timberlake (Into Mischief), and the Bob Baffert-trained duo of Muth (Good Magic) and Prince of Monaco (Speightstown).

Some of the headliners for the trio of wide-open 2-year-old turf races include: Royal Ascot G2 Coventry S. winner River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) (Juvenile Turf); GI Natalma S. heroine She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) (Juvenile Fillies Turf); and returning G2 Queen Mary S. winner Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) (Juvenile Turf Sprint).

Baffert will very likely be favored to secure a fifth win in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with 'Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) following the late defection and subsequent retirement of GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate). The $6-million feature also includes G1 Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and GI Whitney S. winner White Abarrio (Race Day).

The GI Breeders' Cup Turf could arguably be the best race of the weekend. European heavyweights Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and King of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) will take on the best from these shores, led by Up to the Mark (Not This Time) in the 1 1/2-mile event.

Other high-profile runners in action this weekend include: Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (F/M Turf); Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) and Songline (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) (Mile); and Idiomatic (Curlin) and Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) (Distaff).

The Breeders' Cup World Championships will be televised live by NBC, Peacock, USA Network, and FanDuel TV.

For wall-to-wall coverage of all 14 Championship races, click here for Friday's preview edition and click here for Saturday's preview edition.

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A Year Removed from a Horse of a Lifetime, Sadler Three Deep at Breeders’ Cup

ARCADIA, CA – With a trio of longshot chances entered in this weekend's Breeders' Cup, trainer John Sadler found a quiet spot on the apron to watch his 9:00 a.m. set train at Santa Anita on Wednesday morning.

It was a very different scene ahead of last year's Championships as the 67-year-old put the finishing touches on the once-in-a-lifetime Flightline (Tapit), who concluded his brilliant career unbeaten from six starts with a performance for the ages in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland.

How's life after Flightline treating you these days John Sadler?

“He's one of the greatest horses to ever run, so it's a little different,” he replied. “I've been doing this a long time, so I know the ebb and flow of it. Even though you may not have another one like that, you're gonna sure be looking for one. Everybody goes, well, is it easier this year?”

“I'll take last year any day,” Sadler said with a big laugh.

Located directly below Santa Anita's signature facade in the grandstand breezeway, a spectacular mural depicting Flightline's jaw-dropping 11 1/2-length victory in the 2021 GI Runhappy Malibu S. was unveiled on opening day at the Great Race Place last winter.

Sherackatthetrack photo

There are plenty of reminders of the big horse scattered around the facility.

“It's great to see,” Sadler said while seated just a few feet away from a cardboard cutout of the 2022 Horse of the Year, who covered 152 mares during his first season at stud at Lane's End this year.

“What's gonna be fun is that he's gonna set the market next week at Keeneland (and Fasig-Tipton)–some of those mares will sell in foal to him and next year he'll have foals on the ground. His saga is still being written.”

The fun will begin for Sadler this weekend with $240,000 OBS April graduate Slider (Jimmy Creed) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday. The Hall Racing, Pearl Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds colorbearer, listed at 8-1 on the morning-line, captured the local Speakeasy S. in his first try on turf Oct. 7.

The stretch-running Kirstenbosch (Midnight Lute) figures to get a nice set up in Saturday's speed-laden GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. The Keith Abrahams homebred, given a 10-1 shot on the morning-line, was a come-from-behind, last out winner of the local prep GIII Chillingworth S. Sept. 29.

Missed the Cut (Quality Road), meanwhile, will be one of the longest shots on the board as Sadler goes for a third win in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The dominating 1 1/2-mile GIII Tokyo City Cup S. Oct. 1 winner, a $400,000 KEENOV weanling and 40,000gns TATFEB graduate, is campaigned in partnership by Bee Zee, Lanes End Racing, St. Elias Stables, Edward P. Babington, Edward J. Hudson, Jr. and Lynne Hudson.

“It's one of the things that I'm proudest of that we end up in the Breeders' Cup a lot of these years,” Sadler said. “We're going over there with horses that may not be the favorite, but they all have chances. When you get at this level, you have to realize that everybody you're running against is top class. They're good, tough races, but that's the way it should be.”

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