Saint Liam wins Breeder's Cup Classic
10/29/2005 5:55:07 PM
NEW YORK (AP-CP) - Saint Liam came through in the Breeders' Cup Classic and probably wrapped up U.S. Horse of the Year honors at Belmont Park with a stirring victory in America's richest race on Saturday.
Taking the lead at the top of the stretch, Saint Liam held off the challenge of Flower Alley, owned by Toronto's Eugene Melnyk and his wife, Laura, and earned Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey his fifth win in the Classic and 15th in the Breeders' Cup. Sent off as the 2-1 favourite in a field of 13, Saint Liam bided his time behind leaders Sun King and Suave until the field reached the far turn. And that's when Bailey sent the 5-year-old son of Saint Ballado four-wide to take command.
Saint Liam came into the $4,680,000 US Classic with three wins in five starts this year, including the Woodward at Belmont on Sept. 10. With previously unbeaten Lost in the Fog losing in the $1 million Sprint and First Samurai losing in the $1.6 million Juvenile, Saint Liam appears to have the inside track for Horse of the Year. His top competition would be Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex, who has not raced in nearly five months and missed the Classic.
Saint Liam, a hometown favourite who trained for this race at nearby Aqueduct, gave trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., his second win on the day. Earlier, his sprinter Silver Train upset Lost in the Fog.
"We just got lucky," Dutrow Jr. said. "I just couldn't be happier."
Saint Liam broke from post No. 13 and covered the 1¼-mile Classic in 2:01.49, becoming the second straight favourite to win the centrepiece of the eight-race, $15 million-plus Breeders' Cup, which drew a crowd of 54,289. Ghostzapper won it last year and was voted Horse of the Year.
Owned by William K. and Suzanne Warren Jr., Saint Liam returned $6.80 to win and earned $2,433,600, boosting his career bankroll to $3,696,960.
Family and friends of the owners, wearing Saint Liam baseball caps, swamped Bailey in the winner's circle.
Dutrow made his pitch for Horse of the Year.
"We have the best horse around," he said. "We didn't duck any kind of horse."
The 48-year-old Bailey, who failed to win aboard three earlier favourites on Saturday, came up big at the right time. The jockey has been considering retirement and this could be his last Breeders' Cup race.
Flower Alley, winner of the Travers but fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in has last start, ran a strong race in his second try against older horses.
Flower Alley was trained in New York by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez.
Melnyk, who also owns the NHL's Ottawa Senators, was looking for his second Breeder's Cup title, winning the sprint last year with Speightstown.
Perfect Drift was third, followed by Super Frolic, Suave, Choctaw Nation, Starcraft, Sir Shackleton, Sun King, Borrego, Oratorio, Jack Sullivan and A Bit O' Gold.
A Bit O'Gold, based at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack, is owned by The Two Bit Racing Stable and trained by Catherine Day Phillips. In 2004, A Bit O'Gold won the Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders' Stakes, the final two jewels of the Canadian Triple Crown.
Host, the other horse at the Breeder's Cup owned by the Melnyks, was seventh in the Breeder's Cup Mile. Leroidesanimaux, who captured last month's Atto Mile at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack, finished second to Artie Schiller, Leroidesanimaux's first loss in nine races.
Brother Derek, owned by Calgary's Cecil Peacock, was fourth in the $1.6-million Juvenile. The horse came into the race with just three career starts (two wins, one third-place finish) and $167,100 in earnings.
Jealous Profit, co-owned by J. Paul Reddam of Windsor, Ont., finished 11th. Reddam has one win in the Breeders' Cup, with Wilko in last year's Juvenile.
Knights Templar, based at Woodbine, actually led the Juvenile Fillies race shortly after a quarter mile. But Knights Templar, trained and co-owned by Toronto's Dan Vella, faded badly at the turn and finished sixth.
Yolanda B. Too, a 41-1 longshot in the Distaff co-owned by Sherman Cunningham of Kleinburg, Ont., was close to the lead early in the race, standing second at one point. But Yolanda B. Too began to fade badly and wasn't a factor.
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