Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Marche Lorraine Prevails Over Dunbar Road By A Whisker To Steal Distaff

If Breeders' Cup viewers thought the finish of the Sprint, which featured a ding-dong battle between Aloha West and Dr. Schivel, was a nail-biter, Breeders' Cup Distaffers demonstrated we hadn't seen anything yet.

Top betting choices and hot early pacesetters Private Mission, Malathaat, and Shedaresthedevil were overcome midstretch by an arsenal of closers, including Marche Lorraine (JPN) and Dunbar Road scrapping in the final strides. It was Marche Lorraine, who had sat well off the pace early in the 1 1/8-mile contest, who fought her way through under British champion jockey Oisin Murphy, edging Dunbar Road by the narrowest of noses in the photo finish.

The race gave Japanese shippers their second victory of the day, after Loves Only You took the Filly and Mare Turf earlier in the afternoon, also running for trainer Yoshito Yahgi.

Letruska, who had been the heavy 8-5 favorite, had room to run but faded going into the final turn, finishing up tenth.

Malathaat hung on for third in another photo finish over Clariere.

Off at odds of 45-1, Marche Lorraine paid $101.80, $41.00, and $18.80.

Early fractions were blistering at :21.84, :44.97, 1:09.70, and 1:35.28, with a final time of 1:47.67.

U. Carrot Farm owns Marche Lorraine, who was bred in Japan by Northern Farm. The 5-year-old mare is the daughter of Orfevre and French Deputy mare Vite Marcher. She came to the race off a win in the Breeders' Gold Cup Stakes on Aug. 12 at Mombetsu. Earlier this year, she won both the nine-furlong Tck Jo-O Hai and the eleven-furlong Empress Hai. Marche Lorraine has found success on both turf and dirt, and has excelled on a variety of track conditions in her dirt races.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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Space Blues Rockets To Lead In Late Stretch To Take Breeders’ Cup Mile

In the last race of his career, Space Blues (IRE) goes out a winner in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. After a delayed start, the Godolphin bred and owned horse overtook frontrunner Smooth Like Strait in the final furlong to win by a half-length.

Space Blues was one of two Godolphin runners sent postward in a full field of 14 for the Mile, but Master of the Seas, in post one, reared up in the gate twice, hitting his head on an overhead bar. With that, much like Friday's incident with Albahr in the Juvenile Turf, Master of the Seas was a late scratch, leaving only Space Blues to contest in the blue silks.

“Yeah, well, we, Yogi said it best. It's deja vu all over again. About the time you don't think something can happen just come around the next day. Certainly didn't see this coming,” Godolphin racing manager Jimmy Bell said in the post-race press conference. “But as William and Charlie both say, we got to appreciate these horses. This is a live situation and these things happen. It's a part of the race. We all hate to see these things but it just goes to show you that there's just so many uncontrollable events.

After the field reloaded, the break was a clean one, with Smooth Like Strait going to the lead in the race's opening strides, with Blowout and Space Blues running second and third. After a first quarter in :23.51 and the half mile in :47.38, Smooth Like Strait maintained a one-length lead down the backstretch, with Space Blues and William Buick on the rail in third.

On the far turn, Buick moved Space Blues to the outside, as Smooth Like Strait looked poised to go wire to wire. The Godolphin horse turned on the jets midstretch and wore down Smooth Like Strait to win by a half-length. Ivar came on to finish third, with Raging Bull fourth.

The final time was 1:34.12. Find this race's chart here.

Space Blues paid $6.20, $4.60. and $3.40. Smooth Like Strait paid $9.00 and $6.20. Ivar paid $11.40.

“I'm absolutely delighted. He's been a fantastic horse and will now be retired to stud. William gave him a great ride in the perfect position throughout. Space Blues has been a great servant and it's another well-deserved win. I'm thrilled for team Godolphin both here and back home at Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket and obviously His Highness Sheikh Mohammed. It was an interesting race beforehand with Master of The Seas being scratched but we're getting used to that now! Rules are rules and we have to abide by them,” said trainer Charles Appleby after the Mile.

“Coming here I knew I had some very good rides. Space Blues traveled to America very well and Charlie has been delighted with all of our horses coming into the races. We know how tough it is to come here and everything needs to pan out for you to win. He's a great little horse and I don't think he's had the recognition he deserves. A mile round here suits him down to the ground. I was a bit nervous going into the race as I wanted to give the horse what he deserved,” winning jockey William Buick told the Del Mar Press Office after the race.

As for Master of the Seas, Appleby gave an update on the colt's condition: “Master Of The Seas is fine and James is fine. And I say deja vu, so I'm getting used to this sort of speech now, but the most important thing is he came back safe.

Space Blues is by Dubawi (IRE) out of the Noverre mare Miss Lucifer (FR). The 5-year-old horse has four wins in six starts in 2021, including the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp in France and the Group 2 City of York Stakes at York in England, for a lifetime record of 11 wins in 19 starts and career earnings of $2,585,725.

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Aloha West Nails Dr. Schivel On Wire In Breeders’ Cup Sprint

In one of the most white-knucke finishes of the weekend's meeting, Aloha West got the right side of a head-bob against Dr. Schivel after an intense stretch drive to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday at Del Mar.

The 4-year-old Hard Spun colt settled in at the back of the field in the six-furlong race, as imposing 1-to-2 favorite Jackie's Warrior set a blistering pace on the rail, tracked closely by Special Reserve and longshot Matera Sky. As Jackie's Warrior clocked the opening quarter-mile in :21.91 seconds, jockey Jose Ortiz gradually brought Aloha West up through the crowd, and got him to the middle of the pack as the leaders hit the turn.

Jackie's Warrior continued to fend off a dogged challenge from Special Reserve through the bend, and they were joined three-wide by Dr. Schivel as they prepared to enter the stretch after a half-mile in :44.11 seconds. Following Sea also appeared poised to make a rail move, but his potential rally was cut off in the turn by a tight-cutting Jackie's Warrior.

After such a hot battle up front, Jackie's Warrior relented at the top of the stretch, leaving Special Reserve and Dr. Schivel to decide the leader, and Aloha West still several lengths behind. Dr. Schivel and jockey Flavien Prat appeared to have a clear path to victory with a furlong to go after disposing of Special Reserve, but Ortiz put Aloha West in the middle of the track, and got active in his urging, flipping between showing his mount the crop and the occasional right-hand strike.

Dr. Schivel still looked like he would survive the challenge as the wire drew near, but Aloha West drew even in the final two jumps. Even then, Dr. Schivel appeared to potentially have the forward head bob as they crossed the wire. The photo finish revealed that Aloha West had a nose over his foe when they passed the finish, while Following Sea recovered from his stunted rail move to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up.

“I knew there was a lot of speed in the race and I had none, so I knew I was going to come from the back,” Ortiz said. “He was giving me a great run, but I didn't know if I was going to get there. Finally, we did. He put his head right on the wire. I was about 60 percent sure I won.”

Aloha West stopped the clock in the six-furlong race in 1:08.49 over a fast main track. Any horse was going to be an upset after heavy Jackie's Warrior conceded, but Aloha West was an especially lucrative one, paying $24.60 to win.

Wayne Catalano trains Aloha West for owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. He was bred in Maryland by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss.

“I liked where we were at early in the race and the head-bob was a tough one,” Catalano said. “But you know when the results come this way we're happy. Right now, it's a good time to win a race like this. We are low on horses and have been around a long, long time. I have been reinventing myself so many times. Fifty years and counting. I just want to settle down and have a handful of nice ones in one spot and enjoy my life with my three grandkids and one more on the way.”

The victory in the Sprint improved Aloha West's record to five wins in nine career starts. It was his first stakes victory, and just his second graded stakes attempt, after finishing second by a neck in the Grade 2 Phoenix Stakes on Oct. 8 at Keeneland.

Quotes from other connections:

Jockey Flavien Prat (Dr. Schivel, second) – “That was a tough loss. He was running really strong and didn't see the winner coming as I did not look up.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher (Following Sea, third) – “He ran great. He had a good run up the rail and the door closed on him. He had to alter course and re-rally. Looked like he could have been right there if he could have snuck through.”

Trainer Mike Maker (Special Reserve, fourth) – “The horse ran big as always. Very taxing fractions. Proud of the horse.”

Trainer Steve Asmussen (beaten favorite Jackie's Warrior, sixth) – “He looks good. It wasn't his day.”

Jockey Joel Rosario (beaten favorite Jackie's Warrior, sixth) – “He broke really well and was running easy early on. Sometimes it is just hard to win all the time. He gave his best and we were just outrun. On the far turn, two horses came to me a little bit, I could see they were moving better than we were. He always fights but, as I said, you can't win all the time.”

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Loves Only You Breaks Through For Japan With Thrilling Filly & Mare Turf Triumph

It's been 35 years since Japanese Triple Crown winner Symboli Rudolf came to the U.S. in search of a major stakes victory in California that never materialized. It's been 26 years since Ski Captain traveled from Japan for an historic, but ultimately futile, attempt to win the Kentucky Derby. Sixteen years ago, Cesario scored a breakthrough Grade 1 victory for a Japanese-trained Thoroughbred in the American Oaks at Hollywood Park and it's been six years since French-trained Karakontie won the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile to become the first Japanese-bred winner of a Breeders' Cup race.

But until Loves Only You and jockey Yuga Kawada burst through a narrow opening in midstretch to beat My Sister Nat to the wire in Saturday's Grade 1, $2-million Filly & Mare Turf, no Japanese-bred and Japanese-trained horse had been successful on the world's biggest stage for Thoroughbreds, the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

The 5-year-old mare by Japanese Triple Crown winner Deep Impact, a son of 1989 U.S. Horse of the Year Sunday Silence, was considered the best runner ever sent by a Japanese horseman to the Breeders' Cup, and the globe-trotting Loves Only You did not disappoint. Sent off the 4-1 third betting choice, she secured a ground-saving spot just behind the early leaders in the 1 3/8-mile Filly & Mare Turf, awaited room at the top of the stretch and then demonstrated a quick turn of foot to overtake the front-runners and hold off a fast-finishing My Sister Nat by a head.

War Like Goddess, the 2-1 favorite, finished a head back in third after moving to the lead with an eye-catching, wide rally from the three-eighths pole to the wire. Love, the Aidan O'Brien-trained multiple Group 1 winner from Ireland, finished fourth as the 3-1 second betting choice, with defending Filly & Mare Turf winner Audarya fifth in the field of 12 fillies and mares. She was followed across the finish by Ocean Road, Rougir, Pocket Square, Acanella, Dogtag, Going to Vegas and Queen Supreme.

Loves Only You, owned by DMM Dream Club Co. and bred by Northern Farm, ran the 1 3/8 miles on firm turf in 2:13.87, about 2 4/5 seconds off the course record, and paid $10.60 on a $2 mutuel.

Going to Vegas went to the front, as expected, setting fractions of :24.10, :47.83, 1:13.06 and 1:38.20 while under pressure Dogtag. War Like Goddess, last early, turned up the heat with her move entering the far turn and was in front with an eighth of a mile to run after a mile and a quarter was clocked in 2:02.46.

A classic winner of the G1 Japanese Oaks at 3, Loves Only You was winless in five starts as a 4-year-old in 2020, but rebounded this year to win the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong in April after finishing a close third to Mishriff in the G2 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in Dubai. After a summer freshening, Loves Only You returned with a second-place finish in the G2 Sapporo Kinen in Sapporo, Japan, her last start before the Breeders' Cup.

“You know, when we finished second at Sapporo, I picked that race because the turf track is similar to Del Mar,” said trainer Yahagi.

The Filly & Mare Turf winner was produced by the U.S.-bred Loves Only Me, an unraced daughter of Storm Cat who was purchased by Japan's leading breeder, Katsumi Yoshida, for $900,000 from the Lane's End consignment at the 2009 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Loves Only Me was bred by the Niarchos and is a granddaughter of two-time Breeders' Cup Mile winner Miesque.

“I'd like to say thank you to my horse,” Yahagi said. “She did a great job. It's a dream come true for Japanese horse racing history. I'd love to come back Breeders' Cup at Keeneland next year and do the same thing, to win!”

Quotes from other connections:

Trainer Chad Brown (My Sister Nat (FR), second) – “My Sister Nat ran great. Pocket Square just couldn't run that far. Jose (Ortiz) rode a great race. We had a plan to follow War Like Goddess, which he executed perfectly. I just said, 'If you have any chance to win, just follow her and draw alongside of her in the stretch and if our horse is good enough battle it out.' That's what Jose did. I'm so proud of this mare. It's bittersweet because she ran the race of her life, but it was her last race, and unfortunately, she never got that Grade 1 win that she deserves. She had a couple of tough beats. Nevertheless, she is off to the breeding shed and she has been a wonderful mare to train. I look forward to training her babies.”

Trainer Bill Mott (War Like Goddess, third as favorite) – “Being third's not as good as first. She ran hard. She made the lead a little early, maybe, and was a little wide off the turn – didn't have much choice about that.”

Jockey Julien Leparoux (War Like Goddess, third as favorite) – “We had a good trip. She was nice and relaxed relaxed early. Just before the three-eighths pole she took a hold of the bridle on her own and made that big move. I had to go on with her then and we got carried wide. It was sooner than I would have liked. She ran a very good race.”

Jockey Ryan Moore (Love, fourth) – “She ran well just not good enough on the day.”

Jockey William Buick (defending winner Audarya, fifth) – “She ran a very big race considering the run we had. She got boxed in then denied a clear but ran on strong to the line.”

Jockey Oisin Murphy (Ocean Road, sixth) – “Had a great run round and she's put up a good performance.”

Trainer Hugo Palmer (Ocean Road, sixth) – “She ran very well and is going to be a lovely filly for next year. I expect her to keep improving.”

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