Santa Anita Saturday

THE 2019 Breeders’ Cup never felt like it would be perfect.

The two-day World Championships at Santa Anita Park always felt like a wait-and-see event.

Wait to see who run – Bricks And Mortar, Mitole, Midnight Bisou, Covfefe and Omaha Beach did – and who doesn’t run – Maximum Security, Tiz The Law, Enable, Magical and Preservationist didn’t.

Wait and see who turns out – crowds were always strong in sunny Southern California with two-day total crowds that ranked first (118,484 in 2016) and fifth (98,319 in 2013) all-time.

None of that generated the buzz of the elephant in the room if you will – the question of how everything would fare on the track that came under fire this year for breakdowns that attracted national news, grandstanding politicians looking for headlines of their own and animal-rights advocates calling for an outright ban on racing.

Vino Rosso and jubilant jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. coming back after winning the Classic \ Healy Racing.

The 36th Breeders’ Cup seemed destined to overcome those obstacles, starting with the cleanly run opening Future Stars Friday. Breeders’ Cup Saturday went as smooth and the event seemed on track to be remembered for victories by Bricks And Mortar, Mitole and Covfefe, a one-two finish for females in the Mile and a two-day crowd that topped six figures for just the fifth time.

At the end of the day’s final race, the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and just as the sun started to set and red and grey clouds filled the sky above the San Gabriel Mountains, the mood took a sombre turn.

Fatal injury

Mongolian Groom, the most experienced member of the field and coming off a career-best performance in his last start, suffered what proved to be a fatal hind ankle injury.

The massive crowd gathered on the grandstand apron and in the box seats above turned their heads to the left to see veterinarians and track personnel attend the injured horse, while to the right and a furlong away that might as well have been 100 miles, the connections met Classic winner Vino Rosso and jubilant jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. coming back.

Oblivious to the scary scene up the track – rightfully so considering Vino Rosso just capped his career with his best performance – owners Mike Repole and Vinny Viola and trainer Todd Pletcher beamed with the type of pride organisers of the Breeders’ Cup hoped for by days’ end.

Rosso roars to Classic success

Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (Grade 1)

THE connections of Vino Rosso shipped him from New York to California this spring with a plan.

They knew he’d handle the mile-and-a-quarter trip of the Breeders’ Cup Classic – he’d run fair albeit without winning in past stamina tests. They didn’t know how he’d run over Santa Anita’s main track, which came under serious scrutiny in the winter and spring after a spate of breakdowns, and wanted to find out.

Vino Rosso showed he liked the going out West and won the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita (the old Hollywood Gold Cup when run at the former Hollywood Park). The four-year-old son of Curlin showed that affinity again when he romped to a four-and-a-quarter-length victory over McKinzie in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic to close the book on the 2019 World Championships.

Irad Ortiz Jr., the winner of the Bill Shoemaker Award for top Breeders’ Cup jockey, rode Vino Rosso for trainer Todd Pletcher and owners Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable. Vino Rosso won in 2:02.80, a leisurely clocking by California standards and the slowest of 10 editions of the Classic at Santa Anita.

None of that mattered to Pletcher, winning his first Classic and 11th Breeders’ Cup in his Hall of Fame-destined career.

“We just felt like the last five weeks the horse has been training unbelievably well,” he said. “I’ve been anxious for the race to get here and just nervous about it. It’s been a while since I came into a race of the magnitude with a horse doing this well. Every indication in his works, the way he shipped in, the way he galloped over the track. Everything was there indicating he was sitting on a lifetime best performance.

“So you always worry… but every indication was he was sitting on a big one and when it actually happens it’s very rewarding, very fulfilling, very emotional.”