Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Spun To Run Looks to Build Upon Dirt Mile Success

In just its first 14 years of running, the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile has emerged as a stallion-making race and in recent years, its winners are making top headlines as they kick off their stud careers.

Goldencents (Into Mischief), winner of both the 2013 and 2014 edition, now leads his class of third-crop sires. The following year’s winner, Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song), is already a two-time Grade I producer with his first crop of 3-year-olds while 2016 champion Tamarkuz (Speightstown) now has a Grade III winner in his first crop of juveniles. The subsequent winners in the late Battle of Midway (Smart Strike) and City of Light (Quality Road) are still waiting for their first runners, but initial first crops are already turning heads both on the farm and in the sales ring.

Last year’s Dirt Mile Champion Spun to Run (Hard Spun) retired to Gainesway Farm this year and will stand his initial season at stud for $12,500.

“Spun to Run is a horse that we’re very excited about,” said Gainesway’s Director of Stallion Sales and Recruitment Sean Tugel. “Certainly his Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile win was his marquee victory and he did it very easily. He did it by widening lengths. On that day he ran a 109 Beyer and he certainly made everyone realize the type of talent he had.”

Spun to Run broke first at last year’s championship meet at Santa Anita and was never passed, besting a field that included Grade I winners Omaha Beach (War Front) and Improbable (City Zip), as well as Coal Front (Stay Thirsty) and Mr. Money (Goldencents).

Prior to his Breeders’ Cup victory, the Juan Carlos Guerrero-trainee blossomed in the later half of his sophomore season, finishing third in the GI Haskell Invitational S. behind Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) before taking the GIII Smarty Jones S. and later earning a 110 Beyer in the M.P Ballezzi Appreciation Mile S.

“It was a very strong 3-year-old campaign,” Tugel said. “He ran a `zero’ five times on Thorographs, which was very good. He’s a horse that showed brilliance, and brilliance makes sires.”

Following his Breeders’ Cup victory, Spun to Run wrapped up his sophomore season with a runner-up effort behind Maximum Security in the GI Cigar Mile H. While prepping for the 2020 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, an injury forced the dark bay to scratch and ultimately retire.

“It was bad timing,” Tugel said. “[Owner Bob Donaldson] had a big 4-year-old campaign planned out for him. Unfortunately it didn’t go as the owner had hoped, but that allowed us to go out and get him. It was an injury that took time to come back from, and unfortunately he missed the breeding season and the racing season this year. But certainly he’s a young horse still, he’s turning five, and he’s let down beautifully in his time off from training. I think people are going to be very excited when they see him.”

The son of Hard Spun is out of the stakes-winning Grand Slam mare Yawkey Way and his half-sister Tap It All (Tapizar) is also a stakes winner.

“Certainly the Danzig sire line has been a sire line that has been dominant throughout the world, not only in America but in Australia and Europe,” Tugel said. “The fact that his first three dams are all juvenile winners and his first dam was a juvenile stakes winner at Saratoga makes it very exciting to think that speed and precocity is going to be passed on through his offspring.”

Tugel added that he finds Spun to Run to represent the best blend of Grand Slam and Hard Spun.

“He has a beautiful shoulder and a beautiful amount of bone,” he said. “You see a lot of that Grand Slam and Gone West in through his neckline and jaw. The strength of his hind leg is a great benefit that he gets from his bottom side. He’s a beautiful mover and he has a lot of leg to him. I think he’s a true miler, and milers make stallions.”

Tugel said that breeders have been impressed by the million-dollar-earning miler as he nears the start of his stud career.

“The breeders that have seen him so far have really liked him,” he said. “He’s a horse that kind of grabs your imagination as soon as you see him. He has a personality and an intelligence. He’s a horse that captivates the breeders when he walks out and that’s what drew us to him.”

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Moment of 2020: European Success at the Breeders’ Cup

In Moment of 2020, the staff of TDN Europe reflect on their favourite moments in racing for the year.

The Breeders’ Cup is always a meeting that I particularly enjoy; it is a time when my keen interests in both European and American racing come together. The Breeders’ Cup always involves some incredible clashes of the continents, and it is the most international meeting when you consider participation and the gravity that both sides place on it.

The 2020 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland included a remarkably strong European presence, with seven of the 13 trainers that sent horses across the Atlantic having their first runners at the meeting. After eight months of relative isolation in Lexington, where I am based, it was fantastic to get out to Keeneland in the mornings ahead the Breeders’ Cup and catch up with some of these connections, all of whom were excited and enthusiastic about the opportunity.

There were a few promising performances on the Friday-I’m thinking of Ubettabelieveit (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) blowing the break in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and then riding the rail under a sterling ride from young jockey Rowan Scott to get up for third; a remarkable effort from both horse and rider. But things really came together on the Saturday, when Team Europe took each of the four races in which it had runners, with three of them going to those aforementioned rookie trainers as well as riders having their first wins at the meeting.

First up was the likeable sprinting mare Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), who made it a perfect start at the Breeders’ Cup for trainer Kevin Ryan, jockey Tom Eaves and her small owner/breeders Terry and Margaret Holdcroft of Bearstone Stud when splitting rivals late to get up for a mild upset in the GI Turf Sprint.

Next up was the French mare Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who struck at big odds in the GI Filly & Mare Turf to provide a popular victory for veteran Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe, who was sending out his first Breeders’ Cup starter. It was also a first win at the meeting for young French star Pierre-Charles Boudot, who remarkably won the GI Mile two races later aboard the Aidan O’Brien-trained Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}), both of which were pick-up mounts from riders that had been ruled out of the meeting by COVID-19. O’Brien, of course, is no stranger to Breeders’ Cup success, but it was somewhat surprising that this was his first win in the Mile. Even more remarkable was the fact that Order Of Australia-the longest shot on the board at 73-1–led home a trifecta for his great trainer, but none of the three runners was below 10-1.

Boudot wasn’t the only rider at the meeting to benefit from the COVID-induced absence of another. The Dermot Weld-trained Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) was, like Order Of Australia, slated to be ridden by Christophe Soumillon, but when he returned a positive test to the virus it was Colin Keane who stepped into his boots to provide the globetrotting trainer Weld with a popular first Breeders’ Cup score in the Aga Khan’s colours. There was a sobering undertone to the result, though; it was lost on few that under different circumstances that would have been the mount of Pat Smullen, who was tragically lost to pancreatic cancer in September at just 43 years of age.

The Breeders’ Cup rarely disappoints, but I particularly enjoyed the 2020 edition as a welcome distraction for a few days from the hardships of the year and as an occasion to celebrate some deserved debut victories at the meeting.

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Keeneland Vice President Bob Elliston Resigns, Effective At The End Of December

Employed at Keeneland since 2016, vice president Bob Elliston will resign from his position at the end of this calendar year, reports bloodhorse.com. The longtime racing executive said he is making the change to pursue a new “next chapter,” although he declined to name specifics.

“The wonderful experiences that I have had really create multiple avenues for continuing this fortunate journey that I have been a part of,” Elliston told the Blood-Horse.

Elliston was previously employed as the executive vice president and chief operations officer of Breeders' Cup Ltd. from 2012-2016, and as the president of Turfway Park from 1999-2012.

Champion Magical Retired to Coolmore Broodmare Band

Champion and MG1SW Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}-Halfway to Heaven {Ire}, by Pivotal {GB}) has been retired, Coolmore announced via Twitter on Tuesday. She will join the Coolmore broodmare band, but a 2021 stallion has not been decided upon. In her latest start, the 5-year-old finished third in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup on Dec. 13 for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

“Brilliant seven-time Group 1 winner Magical (Galileo) has been retired and will join the broodmare band at Coolmore Stud,” the tweet read. “Mating Plans [are] yet to be decided.”

Bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, the May-foaled bay raced for Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor. As a juvenile, she won the G2 Debutante S. and was second by only a nose in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. She continued to progress at three, with a win in the G2 Kilboy Estate S. in July of 2018 and an October score in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S., her first top level win before a second in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs to end her season.

In 2019, Magical was only out of the first two once in nine starts and added victories in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, G1 Irish Champion S., and G1 QIPCO Champion S. besides an additional pair of group wins. She also ran second thrice at the Group 1 level. This term she saluted in her second Tattersalls Gold Cup, besides the G1 Pretty Polly S. and another Irish Champion S. from seven racecourse appearances. Magical also played the bridesmaid in her second Breeders’ Cup Turf this November. She retires with a mark of 28-12-8-2 and $6,200,713 in earnings.

O’Brien told PA: “She was a great filly, she ran at the very top level all the time until she retired. She was ultra-consistent and just an amazing filly, really. She travelled a lot. She won three Group Ones this year and I was delighted to have her again this year, it was a brave decision of the lads to keep her in training.

“The days that stand out are the Champion S.. She was amazing, she always turned up. She was tough, she was consistent and had a super mind and was very sound. Her mum (Halfway To Heaven) was a queen, she was a queen and she was by Galileo, so I suppose you could call him the king. It would be exciting to train her offspring.”

Highweighted in England and Ireland in 2018 and 2019, Magical is a daughter of G1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Halfway to Heaven, who also landed the G1 Nassau S. and G1 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S. Magical is the fifth foal out of Halfway to Heaven and is also a full-sister to European highweight and MG1SW Rhododendron (Ire) and group winner Flying the Flag (Ire).

Halfway to Heaven, herself a half-sister to group scorers Theann (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) and Tickled Pink (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), was purchased by agent Demi O’Byrne for Coolmore for €450,000 out of the 2006 Goffs Orby Million Sale. Magical’s second dam is the blue hen and MGSW Cassandra Go (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), placed in the G1 July Cup.

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