Another jockey unable to ride due to COVID-19, another winner for Frenchman Pierre-Charles Boudot on Breeders' Cup Saturday at Keeneland.
Earlier this week it was announced that Christophe Soumillon would not be able to ride at the Breeders' Cup due to testing positive twice for COVID-19, and Boudot picked up the mount in the Mile aboard Coolmore's Order of Australia for trainer Aidan O'Brien. The 3-year-old son of Australia was listed at 30-1 on the morning line and hadn't made the main body of the field; he only drew in when One Master scratched from the race.
O'Brien had three horses in the race and the finished one-two-three, though it was the longest shot on the board at 73-1 who topped the trifecta. Order of Australia defeated his stablemates Circus Maximus and Lope Y Fernandez by a neck and by a length, respectively. He completed the mile over Keeneland's “good” turf course in 1:33.73.
Boudot won his first Breeders' Cup race with another pick up mount earlier on the card, with Audarya in the Filly & Mare Turf, and was delighted to win his second just a couple races later.
“It's just unbelievable,” Boudot said. “It's just a dream come true for me.”
Order of Australia was sharp at the break, and Boudot made the most of his outside post position by getting a clear run on the outside from fourth position. Circus Maximus was at the rail in fifth, while Lope Y Fernandez was further back in the field.
Up front, Halladay set unhindered fractions of :23.48 and :46.97 while a length clear of Factor This and Kameko. Halladay still held the lead turning into the straight, but Order of Australia had moved up to be in a three-way battle for second, essentially trapping Circus Maximus on the rail for almost a sixteenth of a mile.
By the time Ryan Moore got Circus Maximus angled out, Boudot and Order of Australia were already in gear and running down the frontrunner. At the finish, Order of Australia was a neck ahead of the stronger-finishing Circus Maximus, while Lope Y Fernandez came flying late to gain third over Ivar. Defending Breeders' Cup Mile winner Uni checked in fifth.
Bred in Ireland by Whisperview Trading Ltd., which represents O'Brien's wife, Order of Australia is out of the Danehill mare Senta's Dream, making him a half-brother to last year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Iridessa (trained by Joseph O'Brien). Their second dam is Starine, the millionaire mare trained by Bobby Frankel to win the 2002 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
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