More Than Real wins Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
Garrett Gomez, who took a crashing fall on the turf course at Churchill Downs on Thursday, came back just 24 hours later to win his 10th Breeders’ Cup race.
Gomez was stretched out on the track for at least five minutes following a fall from Indy Bouquet during the sixth race, which was the first race to be run on the strip of turf that was to be used for the Breeders' Cup races. But Gomez, despite injuring his shoulder, was in the saddle when More Than Real won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf for trainer Todd Pletcher.
The unbeaten Winter Memories was the heavy market leader but Jose Lezcano found himself stuck on the hedge with his filly as the race began to unfold off the home turn. Lezcano managed to force Winter Memories out from the pocket but then, as he tried to get upsides the leader, Dos Lunas, found himself blocked off in his run by Gomez.
He had brought More Than Real three wide and shot a couple of lengths clear and looked the winner on merit. The stewards clearly thought so as they did not call an inquiry and waited little time in throwing out an objection from Lezcano.
The success was another fillip for a man who has turned his life around in the past five years. Due to a series of personal problems, including substance abuse, Gomez missed 21 months of his riding career and entered rehab in 2003. He overcame these problems and two years to the day after entering rehab, he won two Breeders' Cup races, the Mile on Artie Schiller and the Juvenile aboard Stevie Wonderboy and has not looked back since.
“Who would ever have imagined it?” Gomez said. “Since 2005 it’s just been amazing. I keep getting the great opportunity to ride good horses and it’s a lot of fun. That’s what I live for – every day we ride these races and look for the opportunity to be at this place.”
Gomez took his opportunity this time and admitted that he, legally, did his best to stop Lezcano from taking his. “A horse got on the inside [Winter Memories] and was trying to get out and I tried to make it a little more difficult for him to get out of there. He claimed foul but but they found no reason to take me down so it [the result] stood.”
There were no complaints from James Toner, who trains Winter Memories, and no excuses either. "I can't take anything away from the winner, she was first and we were second," he said. "We got bothered a bit but she didn't have any excuse once clear."
Pletcher had a major chance when the action switched to the main track for the Juvenile Fillies. R Heat Lightning had suffered a nightmare trip when a closing second to AZ Warrior in the Grade One Frizette Stakes at Belmont last month and but this time John Velazquez found himself in front on slow early fractions.
Frankie Dettori had Theyskens' Theory upsides from early down the back stretch but, perhaps due to being pitched on the rail which seemed to be riding slowly, Brian Meehan’s filly was already dropping back by the turn. That left R Heat Lightning in front, but not for long. Awesome Feather came to the race with an unbeaten streak form five starts but all of them were in state-bred races in Calder. However Awesome Feather, trained by Stanley Gold and ridden by Jeffrey Sanchez, proved that she can mix it with the best.
Halfway down the stretch the two fillies came together as R Heat Lightning had to be straightened by Velazquez but Awesome Feather – only pony-sized but a heart as big as herself - was simply heading straight for the wire, which she passed two-and-a-quarter lengths ahead with Delightful Mary coming through for third.
It was a first Breeders’ Cup winner at the first attempt for both trainer and jockey. “I waited and waited with my filly," Sanchez said. "I wanted to make one move with her. When I asked her, she went. Then, when we got in the stretch with [R Heat Lightning] and when she bumped us, my filly tried harder. She came away from that other filly. The first time I rode her, I told everyone that this was a champion filly. Now she is a champion filly.”
http://www.senore.com/Shared-Account-wins-Filly-Mare-Turf-a39311
http://www.senore.com/Unrivaled-Belle-wins-Ladies-Classic-for-Kent-Desormeaux-a39320
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