Coming into Friday's 16th running of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, trainers Aidan O'Brien and Charles Appleby had dominated the $1-million event, with O'Brien recording four wins for Ireland's Coolmore operation and Appleby scoring three times for Godolphin Racing of Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed..
When the field of 14 charged toward the finish under the late afternoon sun on this Future Stars Friday program at Keeneland race course in Lexington, Ky., juveniles trained by those two brilliant horsemen hooked up in an epic battle. Appleby-trained Silver Knott, the 7-5 favorite ridden by William Buick, found a seam along the rail and burst through inside the eighth pole to take the lead from longshot Mo Stash. O'Brien-trained Victoria Road, ridden by Ryan Moore, swung off the fence at the top of the stretch and came flying late. The two horses hit the wire together, with Victoria Road winning by an outstretched nose.
Nagirroc finished 2 1/4 lengths back in third, with Mo Stash fourth and Battle of Normandy fifth. They were followed by Gaslight Dancer, Andthewinneris, Packs a Wahlop, Major Dude, I'm Very Busy, Webslinger, Really Good, Reckoning Force and Curly Larry and Mo.
Time for the one-mile on firm turf was 1:35.99 after fractions of :23.40, :48.29, 1:13.04, and 1:24.61. Victoria Road paid $13.14 to win and he earned $520,000 as the winner's share of the $1-million purse.
The winner, owned by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Westerberg, is an Irish-bred 2-year-old colt by Saxon Warrior, a son of Japanese star stallion Deep Impact. He was produced from the Invincible Spirit mare, Tickled Pink. The Juvenile Turf winner was bred in Ireland by T Stewart and was a $164,535 purchase at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by M.V. Magnier from the Ballyhimikin Stud consignment.
The win was the fourth in eight career starts for Victoria Road, who came off a victory at Chantilly in France in the Group 3 Prix de Conde.
Earlier in the day, O'Brien and Moore teamed up to win the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies Turf with Meditate, who bounded away from her rivals with an explosive turn of foot in the stretch. Her mile was clocked in 1:35.38, three-fifths of a second faster than the colts went.
The two wins in juvenile turf races gave O'Brien his 14th and 15th Breeders' Cup wins, putting him five behind D. Wayne Lukas, three behind Bob Baffert and tied for third with Chad Brown. It was the fifth Juvenile Turf win for both O'Brien and Moore, who teamed up previously with Wrote (2011), George Vancouver (2012), Hit It a Bomb (2015) and Mendelssohn (2017)
Not to be outdone, Appleby had won the day's opening Breeders' Cup race, the Grade 1 Juvenile Turf Sprint with Mischief Magic. That victory gave the trainer his seventh Breeders' Cup triumph from only 12 starts.
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