Two trainers each won two Breeders\u2019 Cup races Saturday at Del Mar, but that\u2019s pretty much where the similarities end between them.<\/p>\n
The first to do it was Jose D\u2019Angelo, a 34-year-old native of Venezuela who until Saturday had started three horses in the Breeders\u2019 Cup, never winning. He had just two starters this year \u2014 and both won within 40 minutes of each other: Shisospicy ($12.60) in the Turf Sprint and Bentornato ($5.40) in the Sprint.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Angelo\u2019s feat was followed several hours later by the most familiar face in racing: Bob Baffert, a 72-year-old native of Arizona who is already in the racing Hall of Fame. Among his accomplishments is winning more money than any other trainer in Breeders\u2019 Cup history.<\/p>\n
Baffert added to his total \u2014 and also moved into a tie with Aidan O\u2019Brien for the most Cup victories with his 20th and 21st when Splendora ($7.80) romped to a win in the Filly & Mare Sprint and Nysos ($3.40) won a thrilling duel with stablemate Citizen Bull in the Dirt Mile. Flavien Prat rode both winners.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hoping for a dead heat,\u201d Baffert said of the latter race. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame one of them had to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u2019Angelo didn\u2019t have to sweat out either of his victories, with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the saddle for both front-running victories. Shisospicy, a 3-year-old filly, beat Ag Bullet by 2 1\/2 lengths and Bentornato, a 4-year-old colt who finished second in the Sprint last year behind Straight No Chaser, outran that rival for the lead this time and wound up 2 1\/4 lengths ahead of Baffert\u2019s Imagination.<\/p>\n
Asked to describe what those 40 minutes were like, D\u2019Angelo said, \u201cProbably I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on here. In two days when I wake up, I\u2019m going to feel out everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vet scratches criticized<\/p>\n
The controversy over veterinary scratches at the Breeders\u2019 Cup reignited with the withdrawals of multiple contenders, primarily Sweet Azteca and Tamara, the top two favorites in the Filly & Mare Sprint, as well as 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan from the Dirt Mile.<\/p>\n
The trainers of all three horses told the Daily Racing Form they disagreed with the decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis industry is analysis paralysis,\u201d said Mystik Dan\u2019s trainer, Kenny McPeek, who also had Blackout Time scratched from the Juvenile by vets. \u201cThey don\u2019t trust trainers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Richard Baltas, who trains Sweet Azteca: \u201cIt\u2019s devastating. \u2026 That being said, sometimes things, I hate to say it, they happen for a reason. I don\u2019t know what the reason is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Tamara\u2019s trainer, Hall of Famer Richard Mandella: \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say. Maybe they\u2019re right and we\u2019ll find something, but she looked acceptable to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Led by California, the industry adopted several safety reforms after more than three dozen horses died in 2019 at Santa Anita. Last year, Scott Chaney, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, which regulates the sport in the state, said fatal musculoskeletal injuries in racing and training dropped by more than 50% in California over the previous four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe standards are always the same. I think there\u2019s this perception that there\u2019s heightened scrutiny for Breeders\u2019 Cup or other big events. That\u2019s simply not true,\u201d Chaney said Saturday on FanDuel TV. \u201c\u2026 For us, we always err on the side of caution. California, maybe we have the reputation for being strict when it comes to animal welfare. I\u2019m proud of that.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 I will say, we\u2019ve done some work in California and around the globe looking at vet scratches. and regulatory vets are really good at their jobs. They\u2019re good at identifying high-risk horses and most of those horses that they scratch don\u2019t come back to the races in any short order.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were no breakdowns in any of the races Friday or Saturday. The same was true a year ago, though the French colt Jayarebe died of an apparent heart attack after completing the Turf.<\/p>\n
Other races<\/p>\n
A year ago, Charlie Appleby needed Notable Speech to win the Mile to make history as the first trainer to win the same Cup race four years in a row. He finished third, but Rebel\u2019s Romance gave Appleby a victory in the Turf.<\/p>\n
This year, Appleby needed Rebel\u2019s Romance to win to become the first horse to win the Turf three times and join Goldikova and Beholder as the only horses to win three Cup races; he finished second but Notable Speech won the Mile.<\/p>\n
Either way, Appleby was happy to get his 12th Cup win from just 32 starters. Only six trainers have won more and they all have at least 130 starters.<\/p>\n
Of Rebel\u2019s Romance, Appleby said: \u201cDelighted. When you\u2019re beaten, you\u2019re disappointed. Split-second, I thought he\u2019s going to do it, old boy, but full credit to the winner.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Notable Speech: \u201cWe fully intended to come here again 12 months later and sort of try and correct what we didn\u2019t get done last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The upset winner of the Turf was Ethical Diamond ($57.40), a 27-1 longshot who until this summer was running in hurdle races. It was the first Cup starter for legendary Irish steeplechase trainer Willie Mullins. Dylan McMonagle earned his first Cup victory as a jockey.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Trainer Bill Mott and jockey Junior Alvarado figured to have a quiet week once Sovereignty was withdrawn from the Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic with a fever, but the pair had other ideas. Scylla ($17.20), a 5-year-old mare making the final start of her career, pulled off a 7-1 surprise in the $2 million Distaff. It was her first win in nine attempts since June of last year, and her first Grade I victory.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The final race, the Filly & Mare Turf, was won by Gezora ($20.20), a 3-year-old French filly ridden by Mickael Barzalona for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. She rallied late to beat the American filly She Feels Pretty and give European imports five wins in seven Cup grass races this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two trainers each won two Breeders\u2019 Cup races Saturday at Del Mar, but that\u2019s pretty much where the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":349347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,23125,1370,3549,7264,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-349346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-horse-racing","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115477728772740036","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}