Breeders' Cup Results 2014: Winners and Losers from Santa Anita
The Breeders' Cup delivered and so too did Bayern.
Most thought he'd get the lead, and with the way the track was favoring closers, few thought he'd be able to carry it. It was a blanket finish between three three-year-olds and the race went to the fastest in a blazing 1:59 and change.
There were bombs like Take Charge Brandi winning the Juvenile Fillies at 61-1. Then there's a favorite like Goldencents who was positively stunning in his win in the Dirt Mile.
There was Untapable running like a favorite should in the Distaff, then there was Texas Red vaulting past heavy favorites in the Juvenile. Yes, the Breeders' Cup doles out the winners and losers like an Chinese food buffet.
Then there was the Classic...
Winner: Bayern
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Bayern and jockey Martin Garcia made it interesting. The beginning certainly killed Shared Belief's chances and, through a chain reaction, took the other speed—Moreno—out of the race. As a result, Bayern got the lead and never relinquished it.
Bob Baffert won his first Breeders' Cup Classic in a career where he's won just about every other race imaginable.
"It's horrible because I have nothing good to look forward to," Baffert said during the NBC broadcast. "Now I have to win a Triple Crown! I'm so glad they left it up."
By leaving it up, Baffert referred to the jockey objection at the start of the race. A lengthy inquiry lodged by jockey Mike Smith aboard Shared Belief kept everyone on edge, but the stewards upheld the final result.
"I told Martin, 'Whatever you do, you get the lead and don't look back,'" said Baffert during the NBC broadcast.
Few thought, certainly not me, that Bayern would have that kind of speed at the end. Toast of New York and a surging California Chrome challenged Bayern, but Bayern found an extra bit of nitro to keep them from collaring him at the wire.
That gives Bayern wins in the Haskell Invitational, Woody Stephens, Pennsylvania Derby and now the Breeders' Cup Classic. That's Champion Three-Year-Old and a very strong case for Horse of the Year.
Loser: The Start of the Classic
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The start of the Classic ruined at least two horses' chances at winning. The chain reaction gave Bayern all he needed.
When the gate opened, Bayern cut left and cut off Shared Belief. Shared Belief got slammed and then hit Moreno, the other deciding speed. It knocked Moreno off his game and he coudn't pressure Bayern.
Shared Belief got hit again by Toast of New York. The start compromised any chance Shared Belief had of finding a rhythm under the shadow of the San Gabriels.
"All chances the first sixteenth of a mile. I got hit on one side then another group I got hit several times," said jockey Mike Smith during the NBC broadcast.
Winner: Rosie Napravnik
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On Friday, Rosie Napravnik came within a length of winning the Dirt Mile aboard Tapiture. She then won the Distaff aboard the amazing filly Untapable. There was no way to top that. None.
Wait, there was one thing she could do to top what was a huge payday for her: Announce her retirement and her pregnancy. Turns out Untapable carried two people around the oval with her.
Napravnik said on Paulick Report:
"I’ve been planning the retirement since I found out that I was pregnant. I would have waited— my plan was to wait until after the weekend, and I don’t know if I had won on another horse if I would have said anything.
This filly has just been very special to me, and it’s a very special way to go out, so I just couldn’t resist because they asked me how much it meant to me.
"
Napravnik is only 26 (she's been competing for almost 10 years), and she has two wins in the Kentucky Oaks and now two wins in the Breeders' Cup. She has suffered some serious injuries in her career so maybe she is done.
Jockeys, like most athletes and coaches, are ferociously competitive. Will she be back? Maybe, but if she chooses to remain retired for the rest of her life, she certainly gave everyone several reasons to cheer.
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Loser: Close Hatches
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The question entering Friday's Distaff was "which Close Hatches will show up?"
A: The Good One
B: The Bad One
Answer: B, the bad one.
She finished second in the Distaff last year and then rattled four straight wins in 2014. She was undoubtedly the horse to beat in this race heading into Keeneland's Spinster. In that race, Close Hatches laid an egg as the 1-5 favorite.
Confusion flushed the barn of trainer Bill Mott and she failed to bounce back in the Distaff, finishing last of them all. It wasn't a fitting end to her career at all, but clearly something is off.
Jennie Rees in USA Today writes: "Close Hatches, the 3-1 second choice, almost certainly will be retired after finishing last. That followed her fourth-place finish in the Spinster at 1-5 odds."
Winner: Chad Brown's Turf Warriors
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Chad Brown knows a thing or two about turf horses. It's what keeps him in the leading trainer hunt at Saratoga and what defined his run through this year's Breeders' Cup.
He was mentored by the late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel (a turf savant himself) and parlayed that experience into three (!) huge wins at this year's Breeders' Cup.
Brown won the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Lady Eli on Friday and then the Filly and Mare Turf with Dayatthespa.
If that wasn't enough, Brown's Stephanie's Kitten finished second in the Filly and Mare Turf. To put that in perspective, Brown earned a nice $55,000 with Lady Eli's win (10 percent of the winner's share), $110,000 for Datatthespa's cut and $36,000 for the second-place share of Stephanie's Kitten.
"[Jockey] Javier [Castellano] did a terrific job setting a nice pace," Brown said during the NBC Sports broadcast. "If she was going to get tired we had Stephanie's Kitten coming late, so we had it covered either way."
That's a $201,000 trip to the bank for his three turf stars. And he wasn't done.
Bobby's Kitten dropped in at the stinkin' quarter pole and exploded to a neck-win in the Turf Sprint. Tack on another $55,000 check running his grand total to $256,000.
Sushi's on Brown.
Loser: Bo Derek's Vitriol for Doug O'Neill
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Bo Derek has been a horse and horse racing advocate for many years. She made some waves after the Dirt Mile and stole some of the thunder from the winning connections of Goldencents, the heavily favored winner.
Some back story: Doug O'Neill, Goldencents' trainer, is serving a suspension for violating the probation of an earlier infraction. O'Neill, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2011 with I'll Have Another, is no stranger to drug violations (for his horses, not himself).
He wasn't allowed to be present for the Breeders' Cup, but his brother and racing manager Dennis was. That's when he overheard Derek, who was presenting the trophy for the Dirt Mile, say: "I can't believe you would have me present this to these guys."
If she had such an issue, she should have recused herself from the trophy presentation. These things aren't exactly etched in the marble foundation of a BC trophy. Since she took such issue with handing over a championship trophy to the connections, she should have pawned off the ceremony on someone else with less venom.
Dennis O'Neill wrote in an email to the California Horse Racing Board: "It is very frustrating to know that this board, that represents ALL owners in California could be so biased and mean on what should have been a fantastic day."
Horses don't get this far without world-class care. She should have voiced her differences elsewhere, not on horse racing's biggest stage.
Winner: The Brothers Desormeaux
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Wow, only $17,000 bought an Afleet Alex baby and that baby just won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Texas Red. He won with pure class closing from way off the pace.
Ridden by Kent Desormeaux and trained by Keith Desormeaux, Texas Red pulled it all together defeating the mighty Todd Pletcher and his two heavy favorites.
"We were absolutely 100 percent confident," Keith said during the NBC Sports broadcast. "He's been training like clockwork. I couldn't tell you that he was going to win the race but he was training great. He grew up. He's big, he's growthy. He's not a precocious horse. He's only going to get better in time."
That is a scary sentiment given the way he blew past the leaders. Now, this may have been a testament to how much the leaders were backing up, but the way Texas Red ran this race showed a lot of class and maturity. Two-year-olds don't usually run from the back with that kind of comfort.
Kent said during the NBC Sports broadcast:
"It got a little tight. It was a combination of everyone meeting at one point. One thing for sure, my brother is my biggest critic my whole career.
When I win a Kentucky Derby he calls me and says you coulda, shoulda, woulda. I tell you what, I'm emotionally struck. I want to cry but I'll try not to do it in public.
"
Now Texas Red has the pedigree to win Triple Crown races. In 2005, Afleet Alex finished third in the Kentucky Derby and won the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Look out if this horse is as "growthy" as Keith says.
Loser: Todd Pletcher
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Todd Pletcher often comes to the Breeders' Cup with a bunch of runners: older horses, turf horses, sprinters, routers, and, of course, two-year-olds.
This year? Not so much.
All Pletcher had were two-year-olds and only five at that. He finished 12th in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. He finished fourth and 10th in the Juvenile Fillies.
He had the two favorites (with the scratch of American Pharoah) in the Juvenile and finished second with Carpe Diem and last with Dare Devil. This was, to put it mildly, categorically disappointing.
Pletcher's main focus is the Triple Crown with a bull's eye on the Kentucky Derbies. After a few years of saddling dozens of horses in the Run for the Roses, he has a fairly depleted group of older talent.
He was hanging his hat on Palace Malice, the scintillating winner of the Met Mile and last year's Belmont Stakes, but Palace Malice was retired, leaving Pletcher without a quality Classic contender.
Can he regroup and not just be known as for two-year-olds and Derby hopefuls? He's done it in the past and he's always getting varsity talent. It's a down Breeders' Cup for Pletcher, but he'll be back. Oh, yes, he will be back.
Winner: Main Sequence
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Main Sequence is the least sexy horse in American racing. Why? He's an older horse (read: not a three-year-old) and he's a turf horse (Hey, I dig this horse, but turf is a hard sell. Americans don't like their greens.). Grass is a dirty word in some racing circles. But he's the perfect horse for trainer Graham Motion, who won this race 10 years ago with Better Talk Now.
Main Sequence, you could say, is living the American Dream. He was a nothing horse while running in Europe. Since he’s come over the Atlantic Ocean, he’s done nothing but win. Four wins in a row, all Grade 1s.
"Today everything just set up beautifully," said Motion during the NBC Sports broadcast. "He's a machine. At the top of the stretch I knew he was a winner."
Since Motion got this horse to the States, he’s been nothing but a champion. This win locks up Champion Male Turf Horse over Wise Dan. May Wise Dan have a speedy recovery.
Loser: Richie Sambora's Guitar
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I was ready (okay, hoping) for Richie Sambora to sing a pitiful rendition of our country's National Anthem. It would've made for some hella-good tweeting.
Then he had to go ahead and sing a decent rendition. There could have certainly been some classic Bon Jovian voice box. "And the rocket's red glare—Bow-Wow!—the bombs bursting in air!"
So, this slide doesn't go to Sambora, but his guitar, which hung around his neck and didn't get a single strum. Musical instrument as prop is a fail.
Steven Tyler that song! Drape a rag on the mike and let it rip. Leave the axe in the case.
Bow-wow.
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