Shared Account wins Filly & Mare Turf
When the Breeders’ Cup moved from Santa Anita, where the synthetic surface was so helpful for the European runners, to Churchill Downs this year’s meeting was always likely to be a harder task.
Having set records in California for the past two meetings, the European challengers were hoping to avoid the same fate they met when it was held at Churchill in 1998, when they were whitewashed.
On the first day’s card so much faith was pinned on Henry Cecil, every American’s idea of the quintessential Englishman, and Midday as she defended her title in the Filly & Mare Turf. But it was an Englishman abroad, Graham Motion, who moved to America as a teenager, who took the win with Shared Account.
Midday was tracking the lead heading into the home straight as Eclair de Lune took over in front from Plumania. Tom Queally was looking for a gap between horses on Midday and he could not pull wide of the front two because Kent Desormeaux had boxed him in on Red Desire. And when Queally did find enough room to squeeze Midday between the front two he was joined by Shared Account – a 46-1 shot – who belied her odds as she battled the title holder all the way to the win by a neck with Keertana the same distance away in third.
Shared Account got first run on Midday and, given the narrow margin of victory, that may have been what was needed but Cecil’s filly just did not seem able to find any extra in the final hundred yards.
The defeat for Midday meant that the European challengers had drawn a blank on the first and would be relying heavily on their runners in either Mile or the Turf to salvage some pride if 1998 is not to be revisited. In what was a rare setback after six Group One winners since July – three of them provided by Midday – Cecil said:“She's run a great race but I thought the track was just sharp enough for her and that she would have been happier over a mile-and-a-half.
"It's been a long year for her and I wonder whether she quite had the zip coming into November, because the winner was holding her at the end. She'd had three tough races and may not be at her best. She could have done with a bit more time, in as much as another half a furlong."
There was no immediate decision about whether Midday will stay in training for 2011.
The Breeders’ Cup brings many of the powerhouse yards of the northern hemisphere but it was a woman who had only five winners for the year who saddled the winner of the Marathon.
Eldaafer, who had never won beyond 12 furlongs before, showed that the step up to a mile-and-three-quarters was no problem as John Velazquez won his eighth Breeders’ Cup race, but it was a whole new experience for winning trainer Diane Alvarado.
Alvarado, who became the fourth woman to win a Breeders' Cup race, said: “Oh my God, I’m so proud of him. He’s done everything right all year. I just want to see him. This means everything to me. I can’t even think of what I’m feeling right now.”
In a land where 12 furlongs is considered a trip, a 14-furlong race is a test of the jockeys’ pace judgement as much as their horse’s stamina and Julien Leparoux set a steady gallop on Gabriel’s Hill, but then Leparoux turned the s***w before the turn to pull two lengths clear at the top of the stretch.
Prince Will I Am, winner of the Grade One Jamaica Handicap last time out, looked the big threat but could not go all the way in the final furlongs and it was Eldaafer who powered between the pair to win by two lengths from Prince Will I Am (who was later demoted for causing interference) with Gabriel’s Hill and A.U. Miner promoted to second and third respectively.
The disqualification of Prince Will I Am came after a dramatic incident on the home turn. As Javier Castellano angled Prince Will I Am to the outside he bumped Romp, who nearly unseated Martin Garcia and impeded A. U. Miner. Garcia managed to grab Romp’s neck to stay aboard but the manoeuvre did for the chances of A. U. Miner.
Hs rider, Calvin Borel, saw red and became involved in a heated exchange with Castellano near the winner’s enclosure. During the argument Borel threw a punch at Castellano and the three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey had to be physically restrained and led away from the scene.
http://www.senore.com/More-Than-Real-wins-Breeders-Cup-Juvenile-Fillies-Turf-a39286
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