DEL MAR \u2013 Trainer Bob Baffert celebrated his banner Saturday at the Breeders\u2019 Cup by watching the end of the World Series in a private room at the Pamplemousse Grille.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a great day to be a lover of horse racing and baseball,\u201d Baffert said Sunday. \u201cThe Breeders\u2019 Cup is the best, our World Series. And that was a great World Series from start to finish. I can\u2019t remember another more exciting World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while Baffert has been known to wear Dodger Blue, he said this World Series was special regardless of who you favor.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth teams deserved to be world champions,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like I was watching Citizen Bull and Nysos coming to the wire again (in the Breeders\u2019 Cup Dirt Mile). I would have loved a dead heat. There were so many moments in that World Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what a great day for Japan. They watched Forever Young win the Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic (Sunday) morning (in Japan), then watched their baseball greats Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto star in the World Series. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt amazes me the skill and determination these players showed in the World Series. Unbelievable theater. How do you explain the Miguel Rojas home run to tie the game? My only disappointment: I couldn\u2019t do all 18 innings that one night.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the Breeders\u2019 Cup: Baffert had two winners, three second-place finishes and two thirds over the two days. Baffert and Aidan O\u2019Brien are now tied for the lead in Breeders\u2019 Cup wins. Each has 21, one more than D. Wayne Lukas.<\/p>\n
Baffert\u2019s winners this year were Nysos in the Dirt Mile (by nostrils over Citizen Bull) and Splendora in the Filly and Mars Sprint. Second-place finishes were turned in by Citizen Bull, Explora (Juvenile Fillies) and Imagination (Sprint). The third-place finishes were by Brant (Juvenile) and Hope Road (Filly and Mare Sprint).<\/p>\n
\u201cCitizen Bull had the best performance of his life,\u201d said Baffert. \u201cI really wanted it for both him and Nysos.<\/p>\n
Fatality<\/p>\n
The 4-year-old She\u2019s Quality was euthanized early Sunday after suffering a fractured pelvis early in Saturday\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Cup Turf Sprint. She\u2019s Quality was eased in the race and removed from the track by the equine ambulance and transported to San Luis Rey Equine Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe received the best possible care and appeared to be stable in the initial hours after,\u201d said trainer Jack Davison. \u201cHowever, her condition declined overnight, and the difficult decision was made to humanely euthanize her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are utterly devastated at her passing. She was a high-class filly and she took us all on an amazing journey. Although this is a very sad ending, I would like to thank all of my staff for taking great care of her over the past three years. We are a small, tight-knit yard and we will miss her terribly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The daughter of Acclamation had finished third in the Prix de l\u2019Abbaye on her penultimate start and had four wins in 24 career starts with 12 finishes in the money.<\/p>\n
It was the second fatality of the opening weekend of the Bing Crosby meeting. The 5-year-old mare Esmeray died from an injury suffered in Del Mar\u2019s fifth race Thursday. Esmeray had 17 races in her career and four first-place finishes.<\/p>\n
In the spotlight<\/p>\n
The two-day Breeders\u2019 Cup drew 65,232 spectators to Del Mar with a total wagering handle of $180,036,799 \u2014 the third-highest total in the 43-year history of the event.<\/p>\n
It was Del Mar\u2019s fourth Breeders\u2019 Cup in nine years and the track\u2019s second straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for us to pass the torch to Kentucky and New York for the next two years,\u201d said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president Josh Rubinstein. \u201cI think we made a very strong case for the event to return here pretty soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really big win for San Diego as hotels and restaurants were full. On the track, we had a nice balance of international and domestic winners with a strong showing, three wins, by California horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
Jockey Flavien Prat, who rode both of Baffert\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Cup winners Saturday, returned to Aqueduct Sunday and set a New York Racing Association record with seven wins in one day, including six in a row.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jockey Umberto Rispoli scored three wins at Del Mar Sunday with Final Edition ($6.80) in the first, Ballyhooligan ($3.40) in the fourth and Balnikhov ($6.20) in the seventh. Juan Hernandez had two winners \u2013 favorites Bacio ($3.80) in the fifth and Flyover ($4.20) in the ninth.<\/p>\n
Racing resumes on Friday with a first post of 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DEL MAR \u2013 Trainer Bob Baffert celebrated his banner Saturday at the Breeders\u2019 Cup by watching the end…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":351582,"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-351581","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\/115483285071941961","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351581","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=351581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}