Last year's Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter, Elite Power kept his good form going into 2023 and defeated Gunite for the first time in the Middle East with a 3 1/4-length score in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint. After winning both the GII True North S. and the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H.–defeating Gunite for a second time in the latter–the 5-year-old saw his win streak end at eight races when the tables were turned in his last race and he had to settle for second in the GI Forego S.

Off a two-month layoff, the Bill Mott trainee shipped west for the first time and was given a deserving 8-5 shot on a day that had already seen a pair of horses successfully defend their crowns. With rival Gunite breaking just to his outside, Elite Power broke in a line that only Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) was quick enough to clear. Nakatomi (Firing Line) was not going to let the Baffert runner get an easy lead and the 26-1 longshot surged up along the inside to stick a head in front through a contentious opening quarter in :21.99. Elite Power, running near the back of the field, kept his face clean along the outside and really began to pick it up as Speed Boat Beach again tried to open up on the front end. Moving three wide with an impressive move to draw to within a length of the leading pair at the top of the lane, the Juddmonte runner really turned it on once he switched leads at the eighth pole. Speed Boat Beach and Nakatomi both began to fade along the rail as Gunite surged up but he had to tip outside of that pair for running room as Elite Power was already finding his best stride close to the wire. And, just as they had in their last three starts against one another, Elite Power and Gunite came home one in front of the other. The win gave Juddmonte a second on the day following Idiomatic (Curlin) in the Distaff and was a third win on the weekend for trainer Bill Mott.

“It's a difficult job to keep a horse going year after year,” admitted Mott. “To come back and win two Breeders' Cups in a row says a lot about the durability of the horse and the luck that I have. We were lucky enough to have him and he's had a great career. He's off to his new career which will be in the stud barn and we wish him all the best. Irad [Ortiz Jr.] warmed him up good and he said he wanted to be close to the pace without using him too hard. He recognized all day that the only horse to come from behind was Cody's Wish and he is observant enough to see that. The rivalry with Gunite was there and he certainly showed up. I thought he was the one we had to beat.”

“I had a beautiful trip,” added Ortiz, Jr. “I was in the clear early and the horse took me beautifully right to the quarter pole. I was a good passenger sitting in the passenger's seat until the quarter pole. Then I asked him and he just responded well.”

Pedigree Note:

Elite Power, a $900,000 KEESEP yearling, is one of 55 graded winners, 21 at the Grade I level, for the super-sire Curlin. His dam Broadway's Alibi, a MGSW & GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and Robsham homebred, brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables while in foal to Smart Strike at the 2013 KEENOV sale. Broadway's Alibi is also represented by a Curlin colt of 2021. She was bred to City of Light for 2023. Further back in the family, Elite Power's fourth dam is champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Eliza (Mt. Livermore). This is also the family of GISW and sire Dialed In (Mineshaft). Elite Power will stand stud for Juddmonte next year at an introductory fee of $50,000.

“I know, Bill [Mott] would like me to say otherwise, but we're going to retire him to stud,” said Juddmonte' Garrett O'Rourke. “I think he's earned it. He's a very masculine horse, and I bet he'll enjoy it. He's got all the credentials to be a tremendous stallion. I think breeders will just swarm to him. Twice, he's surely sewn up the championship two years in a row, and that's pretty special.”

Elite Power's unnamed 2-year-old full-brother, the last reported foal out of Broadway's Alibi, has yet to race but has been spotted on the worktab.

REPLAY: Elite Power wins the $2 Million @Qatar_Racing #BreedersCup Sprint! Congrats to all connections! #BC23 pic.twitter.com/GqmUMbREyB

— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 5, 2023

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
QATAR RACING BREEDERS' CUP SPRINT-GI, $1,800,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.34, ft.
1–ELITE POWER, 126, h, 5, by Curlin
         1st Dam: Broadway's Alibi (MGSW & GISP, $521,500), by Vindication
         2nd Dam: Broadway Gold, by Seeking the Gold
         3rd Dam: Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat
($900,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Juddmonte; B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. Male Sprinter, 13-9-1-1, $3,775,711. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gunite, 126, c, 4, Gun Runner–Simple Surprise, by Cowboy Cal. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $340,000.
3–Nakatomi, 126, g, 4, Firing Line–Applelicious, by Flatter.
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($18,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $25,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $205,000 4yo '23 FTKHRA). O-Qatar Racing LLC and Hay, Mrs. Fitriani; B-Arnold Zetcher LLC & Crestwood Farm (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward. $180,000.
Margins: 1HF, HF, 1. Odds: 1.70, 3.10, 26.60.
Also Ran: Speed Boat Beach, The Chosen Vron, Hoist the Gold, Dr. Schivel, Three Technique. Scratched: American Theorem.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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“He was a wonderfully big, good-looking black horse,” said Woods. “Tom McGreevy bought him to pinhook him to OBS. It's shameful to say for a champion sprinter, but he didn't work quick enough. If you look at his style of running, he sashayed out of the gate. He had no early speed at all.

“He was always good-looking and he turned into a big, handsome horse with crazy finishing speed. His Breeders' Cup at Monmouth in the slop was one of the best races I've seen.”

Midnight Lute (2003 dark bay or brown horse, Real Quiet–Candytuft, by Dehere)

Lifetime record: Ch. sprinter, MGISW, 13-6-3-1, $2,690,600

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Tom Evans, Macon Wilmil Eq, & Marjac Fm (KY); O-Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Weitman Performances, LLC; T-Bob Baffert; J-Garrett Gomez.

Current location: Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, Paris, Ky.

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When WinStar's David Hanley was asked if he had a few words to say about the remarkable 25-year-old, he said with a laugh:

“I've more than a few words. He's a wonderful horse. I've been very lucky and fortunate to be around him for the past 10 years. He's a magnificent character and a very kind-natured horse. Always looking for treats, but always willing to do what you ask him to do. He has a beautiful head and a sweet nature.

“Up until a year a year ago, we used to ride him every day and he would bow his neck and swell up like he was going to the racetrack. He was a wonderful racehorse and is now a great stallion with 26 Grade I winners in his career. At the age of 25, he has Prince of Monaco, the highest rated 2-year-old in America right now, and several young sons at stud, which is amazing. He's also one of the best broodmare sires right now. He's just a wonderful horse, an amazing horse. It's been a privilege to have him.”

Speightstown (1998 chestnut horse, Gone West–Silken Cat, by Storm Cat)

Lifetime record: Ch. sprinter, GISW, 16-10-2-2, $1,258,256

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Aaron U. and Marie Jones (KY); O-Eugene and Laura Melnyk; T-Todd Pletcher; J-John Velazquez.

Current location: WinStar Farm, Versailles, Ky.

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It wasn't so long ago that the magnificent sire Gone West held court at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. From 22 crops, all while at Mill Ridge, he netted a mouth-watering 9% black-type winners from starters, including Breeders' Cup winners Da Hoss (twice), Johar, and Speightstown, all back in the days when the Breeders' Cup was still a single day and there were far fewer races.

The son of Mr. Prospector passed away in 2009, but his influence on the Breeders' Cup was not done and neither was Mill Ridge's. Among Gone West's sire sons are Speightstown, who has sired two Breeders' Cup winners, and Elusive Quality, who has sired three. His grandsons include Quality Road, sire of four Breeders' Cup winners. And among the major runners out of his daughters is another Breeders' Cup winner in Awesome Feather.

The Mill Ridge team hasn't stopped there. Eight Breeders' Cup winners have been bred, raised, and/or sold by the Central Kentucky farm. Additionally, Mill Ridge's involvement in Horse Country has created an extra ripple effect of the Breeders' Cup's impact on farms big and small, as well as on the fans who visit those farms. And now, the two young sires who are standing at Mill Ridge are both Breeders' Cup winners.

Oscar Performance on a Horse Country tour along with Mill Ridge's tour guide Ryn Harris and managing partner Headley Bell. Earl the Corgi is quite popular on the tours and on social media. | Sarah Andrew

Oscar Performance won the GI Juvenile Turf in 2016, while Aloha West won the GI Sprint in 2021.

“That's like starting two full teams for the University of Kentucky basketball team,” said Price Bell, Jr., general manager of Mill Ridge, with a laugh about the eight Breeders' Cup winners combined with the two additional championship day winners in the stud barn. “That's the beauty of the Breeders' Cup. How lucky are we to have been able to associate with this many horses on Breeders' Cup days?

“We'll often have visitors say, 'Well, don't you have an unfair advantage because you get to watch them in the field and then watch them win?' We know how special it is to get to do this.”

From the start, Oscar Performance had the Bell family's fingerprints all over him. Fittingly, he was raised on the farm and has now returned to the place of his birth to stand. He is also the sire of Sunday's GIII Zuma Beach S. winner Endlessly from his second crop of 2-year-olds. Endlessly is an unbeaten dual graded winner–for the same connections as his sire–who will try to emulate his sire in the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“We raised Oscar Performance for the Amermans and helped with the mating. Now for a horse for the same connections to go on and keep that dream alive is very special.

“We feel so lucky and blessed to associate with so many incredible people and breeders and clients and horses,” said Bell. “The Breeders' Cup is what we're all striving for and dreaming about as soon as you do a mating. We feel so blessed to have gotten there and want to keep going.”

Sarah Andrew

Mill Ridge is a popular spot on the Horse Country tours and Oscar Performance has become a showman.

“To connect him with guests is so special,” said Bell. “People have just fallen in love with him. We've really enjoyed sharing him with people and seeing the way he's become a fan favorite. It has been very meaningful as we share that he was the best 2-year-old on the turf in his generation, the best 3-year-old on the turf, and that he set the world record at a mile. One of those three things often sticks with people. To be able to share him with fans is really special.”

As a racehorse, Oscar Performance had a devastating kick.

“What I found so brilliant in his Breeders' Cup is that he had broken from the 13 hole, yet was able to clear the field,” said Bell. “To break from the 13th post to get clear and over at Santa Anita is a big thing. I remember very vividly where I was when he broke his maiden [at Saratoga in August of 2016]. And then his Breeders' Cup, we sat and watched it at the office with my dad because my wife and I had a 15-month-old. It was our son's first Grade I and one we certainly remember as a family. It would be so memorable if Endlessly could do it, too. We're so blessed to have those relationships.”

Aloha West, whose first foals will be born in 2024, took a different route to Mill Ridge.

“He was raised by our friends at Nursery Place by John Mayer,” said Bell. “I think for his Breeders' Cup, what was so telling, is that was the ninth race he had had that year. He'd showed some ability at two, had some shins, hurt himself at three. They were really patient with him. [He debuted at four], broke his maiden in February culminating with a Breeders' Cup win. He danced every dance, had nine starts that year, no real break. He was sort of the clever horse on the backside; people had a lot of chatter about him going into the Breeders' Cup. And then he showed that will to win.”

Halter tag keychains, including one of Breeders' Cup winner Life Is Sweet, in Mill Ridge's Horse Country gift shop | Sarah Andrew

In addition to their two Breeders' Cup-winning stallions, one of whom they had also raised, Mill Ridge has been intimately involved with 2000 Distaff winner Spain, 2003 Turf dead-heater Johar (one of Gone West's winners), 2004 Juvenile Fillies winner Sweet Catomine, 2005 Mile winner Artie Schiller, 2006 Distaff winner Round Pond, 2009 Ladies' Classic winner Life Is Sweet, and 2013 Juvenile Fillies winner Ria Antonia. For those keeping score, that was four consecutive winners from 2003-06 and six in that decade alone.

Winning the Breeders' Cup doesn't get old though. On the contrary, it leaves one hungry for more.

“Once you've been there, you want to experience it again,” said Bell. “You want to do it again and again and again and again.”

Bell has distinct memories of every winner. Some stood out early.

“I often put Sweet Catomine as the one that everyone on the farm thought was very special. For her to culminate as champion and the way she had done it was wonderful. Sometimes you do see something when they're young and it's very gratifying.”

Some stand out because of the relationships with the breeders.

“Artie Schiller was awesome because Leroidesanimaux (Brz) was the overwhelming favorite and he beat him handily, squarely, no excuses. He ran by him like he was standing still. It was a great culmination of the relationship we had with the Moussacs [breeders of Artie Schiller]. A great celebration.”

But one of the Breeders' Cup wins that is most memorable to Bell is for an out-of-the-ordinary reason and ties in to the farm's involvement with Horse Country.

“I remember Spain was a classic [D. Wayne] Lukas move. Lukas put them to sleep. She got a phenomenal ride [from Victor Espinoza]. It was Lukas taking a shot and then he wins at 56-1.

“But what I really remember when I think of her now is on one of our tours there was a gentleman who was about my age. He loved Spain. He was in the hospital at the time she won, in a children's cancer ward, and he'd told all the nurses to bet her.

“Here's a horse that we both had great memories of for very different reasons. It was our first Breeders' Cup winner while he's a kid fighting cancer. It meant a lot to both of us, was an inspiration for both of us. Horses touch people in different ways and sometimes we don't even know it.”

A Horse Country tour sign at Mill Ridge | Sarah Andrew

Perhaps that is why Bell and Mill Ridge are so bullish on the non-profit Horse Country, which Bell was instrumental in co-founding and which also has Breeders' Cup roots. It's his way of giving back to the industry and connecting the wider public to our sport.

“We launched Horse Country tours the same year [2015] as the first Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. It coincided with American Pharoah and that was kind of what got us going. We had set a timeline of the Breeders' Cup date and it gave us a starting gate. We were committed. It has taken a lot of iterations between then and now, but we're big believers in it. We love doing it and sharing what we do.

“The tours have welcomed 200,000 people since then, 25,000 of those at Mill Ridge. We're the number two thing to do on Trip Advisor in Lexington. It feels like it's our part in trying to connect people to racing.

“We're all inspired by the horses and tours are people's best opportunity to meet a horse. Farms create a great opportunity for that. It's meaningful for people to share that, just like the gentleman who had a relationship with Spain from his hospital bed.”

One guest at a time, Mill Ridge and Horse Country are changing the wider public's perception of racing. If meeting a Breeders' Cup-winning stallion brings one more person over to the beauty of our sport, it's a win. If it shows another person how well we take care of our horses and how much they mean to us, it's a win. And if it gets one more person to watch the Breeders' Cup, feeling they have a connection because they've feed a carrot to the sire of one of the runners or have walked over the same land where one was raised, it's a win.

“The better we can show guests what we do, the better we all are,” said Bell. “It feels like the right thing to do. We get so much from the guests and the experience. It's a great reminder of how lucky we are.

“Mill Ridge is just one small piece in it, but we've jumped all the way in. It's very doable. And it's beautiful. At the end of the day, we get so much out of committing to it.

“I feel like we get more out of it than we give.”

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Last seen running a close-up third in the GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar over the summer, Dr. Schivel had plenty of back class to call on here: third last year at Meydan in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen for his only start of the season, second to Aloha West (Hard Spun) in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Sprint, and victorious in that year's GI Bing Crosby. He was also a winner of the GI Del Mar Futurity as a juvenile, making him one of very few runners who can claim Group or Grade I black-type every year he's raced.

Sent to the blocks here carrying 2-1 odds against a well-traveled line up of challengers, Dr. Schivel was quickly sent along after a light bobble at the jump to garner a forward position as Sir Atticus (Gormley) sailed though the early fractions in company of Speed Boat Beach, who was returning from the bench for the first time in almost 10 months. With that trio making all the running passing the three-furlong pole, Dr. Schivel took the inland route as the longshot pacesetter continued fighting off challenges to both sides but Speed Boat Beach looked intent on making a race out of it from the grandstand side. With Sir Atticus tiring by the furlong marker, the top two locked horns for the money and the race's 2021 champion would not be denied despite a valiant effort from the Bob Baffert trainee. Fort Bragg (Tapit) made a belated rally to pick up third.

“The whole plan was to take the same path we did in 2021 and it worked really well that year. It was within an inch of working terrific, but you know I think these sprinters want to run a little fresh and at the same time I like the four weeks out from the Breeders' Cup. Four or five weeks. He got a good race under his belt,” said winning trainer Mark Glatt.

He added: “The ownership group is wonderful to train for they always allow me to do what is good for the horse, he's had his vacations and we've had to be patient. In some cases at times we had to be double patient and that's why he is around still because he wasn't pushed once he gave us the warning light. Hopefully he has one more good one in him and then he gets to go on to his second career.”

When asked if Dr. Schivel will be seen again at the Breeders' Cup, Tim Cohen was very clear: “But of course!”

Pedigree Notes:

The most accomplished of his family, Dr. Schivel hails from a racing one as seven of his siblings have all made it to the races, more than half being winners themselves. Their dam is a winning half-sister to millionaire GISW Ultra Blend (Richly Blended); MSP Swing Thoughts (U S Ranger); and to the dam of MSW Lakerball (Lakerville). The most recent sibling to the races 2-year-old Lil Anthony (Anthony's Cross) is unplaced thus far, and Lil Nugget did produced a 2023 full-sister to Dr. Schivel. She went to Volatile for 2024.

Jockey @JJHernandezS19 makes a tremendous ride aboard #2 DR. SCHIVEL ($6.80) for his second victory in the (G2) Santa Anita Sprint Championship. Congratulations to trainer Mark Glatt and connections with this son of Violence.

Play the Pick 4 at @SantaAnitaPark on TVG. pic.twitter.com/Ywg8ryaeqZ

— TVG (@TVG) September 30, 2023

Saturday, Santa Anita
SANTA ANITA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP S. PRESENTED BY ESTRELLA JALISCO-GII, $202,000, Santa Anita, 9-30, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.49, wf.
1–DR. SCHIVEL, 122, h, 5, by Violence
          1st Dam: Lil Nugget, by Mining for Money
          2nd Dam: Ankha, by Desert Classic
          3rd Dam: Distant Runner, by Distant Day
($37,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEEJAN). O-Red Baron's Barn LLC, Rancho Temescal LLC, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and William A. Branch; B-William A. Branch & Arnold R. Hill (KY); T-Mark Glatt; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $120,000. Lifetime Record: MGISW, 14-7-2-3, $1,327,100. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Speed Boat Beach, 120, c, 3, Bayern–Sophia Mia, by Pioneerof the Nile. ($12,000 Ylg '21 OBSOCT; $200,000 2yo '22 OBSMAR). O-Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman; B-Caperlane Farm (FL); T-Bob Baffert. $40,000.
3–Fort Bragg, 120, c, 3, Tapit–March X Press, by Shanghai Bobby. ($700,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan; B-SF Bloodstock LLC & Henry Field Bloodstock (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $24,000.
Margins: HD, 1 1/4, 3/4. Odds: 2.40, 3.00, 10.10.
Also Ran: Sir Atticus, American Theorem, Visitant, Arabian Lion, C Z Rocket, Spirit of Makena.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean, Sr., Pope McLean, Jr., Marc McLean and P. Feringa, the diminutive Xtra Heat sold for less than five figures as a weanling, yearling and 2-year-old, but won her first six races before tasting defeat for the first time in the 2000 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, her lone career foray around two turns.

She went nine-for-13 during her championship season in 2001, breaking through at the Grade I level with a victory over Above Perfection (In Excess {Ire}) and Harmony Lodge (Hennessy) in the Prioress S. ahead of a runner-up effort to Victory Ride (Seeking the Gold) in that year's GI Test S. Following three subsequent facile scores against her peers in the Mid-Atlantic region by a combined 22 3/4 lengths, Xtra Heat was given her chance against the boys in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, and the fleet filly cut out the running before being run down in the dying strides by Squirtle Squirt (Marquetry).

Wire-to-wire winner of her first two starts at four, including the GII Barbara Fritchie H. with 128 pounds on her back and spotting her rivals between 13 and 16 pounds, Xtra Heat ventured to old Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai and finished a creditable third behind the repeating Caller One (Phone Trick).

Following a sixth-place effort in the 2002 Sprint, Xtra Heat was offered at the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars sale and was led out unsold when bidding reached $1.7 million. Owners Kenneth Taylor and Harry Deitchman sold Xtra Heat to ClassicStar in a private transaction and she closed her career with a successful title defense in the Barbara Fritchie. She was retired with a mark of 35-26-5-2 and earnings of $2,389,635 and was trained throughout her career by John D. Salzman. Woodford Thoroughbreds purchased Xtra Heat privately through a ClassicStar dispersal in 2006. She was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 2015.

The first three foals out of Xtra Heat achieved black-type, including the stakes-winning and Grade III-placed Southwestern Heat (Gone West), who went on to a stallion career in Australia; the stakes-placed X Rated Cat (Storm Cat); and SW & GSP Elusive Heat (Elusive Quality), a $750,000 FTFFEB graduate who serves as the granddam of multiple Grade III winner Scalding (Nyquist), SW & GSP Tracksmith (Street Sense) and SW Hot and Sultry (Speightster). Woodford pensioned Xtra Heat from broodmare duties in 2019 and since that time, she has enjoyed her time in the Florida sun at Woodford's Reddick, Florida, farm, according to the release.

“Xtra Heat knows her place in the world and is always first at feed time,” Woodford owner John Sykes said in 2022. “Xtra Heat is confident in her bearing, but easy to be around. The little brown mare with a great big heart inspires our team to look for potential in every horse.”

With the news of the mare's passing having been made public, Sykes said, “I have always been proud to have the privilege of owning and being responsible for a Hall of Fame horse. She will be greatly missed on the farm and by the team.”

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The Juddmonte colorbearer capped a five-race winning streak with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland last out Nov. 5. Elite Power, a $900,000 Keeneland September graduate, has posted five workouts for Hall of Famer Bill Mott since the beginning of the new year at Payson Park, including a five-furlong breeze in 1:02.80 (4/8) Feb. 2.

“He had his program tailored out pretty much immediately after the Breeders' Cup that we would go to the Saudi Cup Sprint,” Juddmonte USA General Manager Garrett O'Rourke said.

“Bill [Mott] gave him a little break and has him back in full work now and everything is–touch wood–on target. The horse is doing well and looking good. He seems in great form.”

Looking further ahead this season, O'Rourke added, “I want to clarify it with [Juddmonte] first, but, at the moment, the plan is for him to come back [to the U.S. afterwards] and look to an end-of-the-season campaign. Give him a little break, target some of the summer races and work on up to Breeders' Cup.”

Juddmonte, founded by the late Saudi Prince Khalid bin Abdullah in 1980, was represented in all three prior runnings of the card's main event with MGSW & MGISP Tacitus (Tapit) (fifth, 2020; and seventh, 2021) and promoted GI Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun (Into Mischief) (ninth, 2022).

“It's building into a magnificent event and slotting right into the international racing schedule,” O'Rourke said. “By the time you finish with the Breeders' Cup, you're thinking about the Saudi Cup. It's nice to be able to share our best horses and be able to take on the elite of the world at international events like this. The Saudi Cup is firmly established now as that type of an event.”

Juddmonte homebred Laurel River (Into Mischief), meanwhile, scratched by regulatory veterinarians the day before last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, has been given the green light to resume training with Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. The 5-year-old was last seen recording a career high in Del Mar's GII Pat O'Brien S. last summer.

“We gave him 60 days of doing nothing and another 60 days of just bringing him back slowly and he's here on the farm now and galloping every day,” O'Rourke said. “We checked him out then, we've checked him out again now and everything checks out perfectly fine. He's going back to Bob Baffert in the next week. We always do the right thing by our horses and I'm very confident that the horse is absolutely 100 percent. He's a very capable and talented horse.”

He concluded, “The value of having scrutiny of horses going into big events has been a huge boost to the public's confidence that we're doing all the right things. We will always stand by and respect the decisions that the professionals make.”

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Bred by Rockridge Stud, Saratoga Glen Farm and Pete Beals, the dark bay is out of MSW Frost Giant mare Frostie Anne, an earner of $584,443.

“This colt is good sized, born at around 122 pounds. He's very balanced and correct, and you can tell he's going to have a big hip,” said Lere Visagie, owner of Rockridge Stud. “I've had three foals out of this mare and every foal has been better than the one before. I'm quite happy with this Yaupon.”

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon won six of his eight races including the first four starts of his career in 2020. Those wins included the GII Amsterdam S. at Saratoga and GIII Chick Lang S. at Pimlico, and he was the favorite in that year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint as a 3-year-old. Yaupon's 4-year-old campaign was highlighted by the final race of his career, when he won the GI Forego S. at Saratoga.

Campaigned by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, the son of leading sire Uncle Mo earned $703,264. He is out of the Grade I-placed Vindication mare Modification.

Yaupon is set to stand his second season at stud at Spendthrift for a fee of $30,000 S&N.

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6th-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 2:14p.m. ET
Manzanita Stables LLC went to $300,000 at KEESEP in 2021 to acquire LUCKY COMBINATION (Ghostzapper), a price tag likely aided by her dam being out of a half-sister to GISW & MGISP Girolamo (A.P. Indy) and his full-siblings MGISP & MGSW Daydreaming and GISP Accelerator. Dam Lucky Number herself claims GISW Got Lucky (A.P. Indy)–responsible for MGSP Overtook (Curlin)–as a half-relation and has produced two other winning fillies. This is the female family of GISW Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke); GISW Imagining (Giant's Causeway); GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria's Mon) and his graded-stakes winning brothers Cyrus Alexander (Medaglia d'Oro) and Brethren (Distorted Humor); GISW Callback (Street Sense); GISW Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat) as well as no less than 25 other graded and listed black-type earners. She brings in a steady string of work outs from the barn of Christophe Clement. TJCIS PPs

6th-GP, $70k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:38p.m. ET
Glen Hill Farm will unveil their homebred OCEAN CLUB (Curlin) in this six furlong baby dash. Out of MGSP Theatre Star (War Front), herself a half-sister to GISW, track record-setter Taris (Flatter)–dam of GSW King Fury (Curlin)–and that one's full-sister, SW Stoweshoe, Ocean Club has a two-time winning full-sister Gather as You Go. This is the extended female family of Panamanian champion 3-year-old filly Chef Michelle (Pine Bluff). Tom Proctor will send her to post. To her outside and one over is Famosa (Speightstown), the half-sister to MGSP Into Mystic (Into Mischief). Also campaigned by her breeder Tami Bobo, the chestnut is out of Loveofalifetime, who counts GSW, track record-setter Savorthetime (Gilded Time); GISP Rogue Romance (Smarty Jones); and MGSP Tizbig (Tiznow) as half-siblings. She's also a half-sister to Indy Mood for Luv (A.P. Indy), dam of GSW Island Bound (Speightstown), who herself credits GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (Hard Spun) to her tally. Famosa will go to post from the barn of Antonio Sano on the back of a bullet work Dec. 7 over the surface, the four furlong work in :48 flat the fastest of 23 that morning. TJCIS PPs

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Juddmonte's streaking Elite Power (Curlin) came storming down the center of the course with massive strides to blow past longshot C Z Rocket (City Zip) and heavily favored champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) to capture Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. The 5-1 winner punched his ticket to the bluegrass with a visually impressive score in Belmont's seven-furlong GII Vosburgh S.

Hall of Famer Bill Mott was also in the winner's circle with another son of Curlin two races earlier on the card with Cody's Wish in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

“The cut back today was always a little concerning when you are running against a horse as good as Jackie's Warrior but hey, he come down in the middle of the racetrack and ran them all down,” Mott said after saddling his 12th winner at the Championships.

Seventh as 41-1 longshot Super Ocho (Chi) (Dubai Sky) led with Jackie's Warrior sitting the trip in second through an opening quarter in :22.12, Elite Power appeared to have his work cut out for him as they approached the quarter pole.

Super Ocho cornered very wide and forced Jackie's Warrior into the six path, but the 3-5 favorite still had dead aim. Elite Power was just getting warmed up though. Irad Ortiz, Jr. tipped the blaze-faced chestnut out into the clear and he came over the top like an absolute freight train down the lane to win going away by 1 1/4 lengths.

Off the board in a pair of attempts at three, Elite Power has been perfect in five attempts since kicking off the 2022 season with a third-place finish behind the promising 'Rising Star' Strobe (Into Mischief) at Churchill on Derby Day. A nine-length maiden winner beneath the Twin Spires June 5, he added two more victories in come-from-behind fashion, capturing a first-level allowance going a mile in Louisville June 30 and an optional claimer going six furlongs at Saratoga Sept. 3. The deep closer showed a new dimension last time in the five-horse field Vosburgh, sitting right on the pace in a race lacking any true early speed.

“I had the perfect trip,” Ortiz, Jr. said of his third Breeders' Cup win of the weekend and 17th overall at the Championships. “He broke real sharp and I let him settle. I let the speed go. I was able to cut the corner around the turn. When I tipped him out, he was there for me. He kept going forward. He gave me a really good kick from the quarter-pole to the wire. He's a nice horse. I rode him with a lot of confidence.”

Just like Juddmonte's brilliant and gone-to-soon Classic winner Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), Elite Power was also acquired at Keeneland's auction house as a yearling for $900,000. Juddmonte has now won eight Breeders' Cup races.

“Going back to when Prince Khalid was with us, he wanted to start buying some horses at the sales,” Juddmonte's Garrett O'Rourke said. “Obviously, we got off to a good start with Arrogate and followed up with horses like this guy, beautiful horse from the very beginning.

He continued, “The satisfaction of racing at the top end and ultimately winning is what we're all–there's a huge crowd here today and every participant is having the same dream, and we're lucky enough to be here.”

The tough-as-nails 8-year-old gelding C Z Rocket was also second in 2020 Sprint over this same course.

“I'm pretty happy,” trainer Peter Miller said. “Other than winning, I couldn't be happier for this guy, at 8 years old, to run like this. It took a really big effort from the winner to beat us, I couldn't be more proud of the team, and of the horse, and Flavien [Prat] gave him a great ride.”

Five-time GISW Jackie's Warrior, also beaten as the favorite in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and last year's Sprint, is slated to join the stallion barn at Spendthrift Farm in 2023.

“It's just amazing that a horse as great as he is has never won a Breeders' Cup race,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He's a very special horse–physically, mentally and his ability. It's a disappointment. I don't like the outcome, but hail to the victor.”

Pedigree Notes:

Elite Power gave Curlin his second of three Breeders' Cup winners on the card. He later was represented by heart-stopping Distaff heroine Malathaat upping his total to five. The 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner is also the sire of Classic winner Vino Rosso and Juvenile hero Good Magic. His Stellar Wind was a painful second in the 2015 Distaff at Keeneland. Elite Power is Curlin's 20th Grade I winner.

Broodmare sire Vindication concluded his four-for-four career with a win in the 2002 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Arlington. Elite Power is bred on the same Curlin/Vindication cross as GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator. Elite Power's dam Broadway's Alibi, a MGSW & GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and Robsham homebred, brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables while in foal to Smart Strike at the 2013 KEENOV sale. Broadway's Alibi is also represented by a Curlin colt of 2021. She was bred to City of Light for 2023.

Elite Power's fourth dam is champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Eliza (Mt. Livermore). This is also the family of GISW and young sire Dialed In (Mineshaft).

Saturday, Keeneland
QATAR RACING BREEDERS' CUP SPRINT-GI, $1,840,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:09.11, ft.
1–ELITE POWER, 126, c, 4, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Broadway's Alibi (MGSW & GISP, $521,500), by Vindication
                2nd Dam: Broadway Gold, by Seeking the Gold
                3rd Dam: Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($900,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Juddmonte;
B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Irad Ortiz,
Jr. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: 8-5-0-1, $1,405,711. Werk
Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–C Z Rocket, 126, g, 8, City Zip–Successful Sarah, by
Successful Appeal. ($800,000 2yo '16 OBSOPN). O-Altamira
Racing Stable, Madaket Stables LLC, Gary Barber & Tom
Kagele; B-Farm III Enterprises (FL); T-Peter Miller. $340,000.
3–Jackie's Warrior, 126, c, 4, Maclean's Music–Unicorn Girl, by
A.P. Five Hundred. ($95,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-J. Kirk & Judy
Robison; B-J & J Stables (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$180,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, HF, 3/4. Odds: 5.55, 31.45, 0.77.
Also Ran: Manny Wah, O Besos, Super Ocho (Chi), Kimari, American Theorem, Flash of Mischief, Willy Boi, Aloha West.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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