The $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) features 2-year-old colts and geldings going 1 1/16 miles on the main track, and often decides the early favorite for the next Kentucky Derby. Champagne Stakes (G1) winner Havana, undefeated in 2 starts, was sent off as the 5-2 favorite in the field of 13 over 3-1 Tap It Rich, a debut winner at Santa Anita last out, and 7-1 Strong Mandate, winner of the Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga before disappointing in 7th in the Champagne (G1) at Belmont.
New Year's Day leads in the stretch.
48-1 Conquest Titan and Strong Mandate battled for the early lead through fractions of 22.66 and 45.38 before Conquest Titan tired, allowing Strong Mandate and jockey Joel Rosario to open a 1 1/2 length lead on the far turn through 3/4 in 1:09.70. Havana, who stalked the lead pair in fourth under Gary Stevens, opened up a 2 length lead in mid-stretch through 1 mile in 1:36.66, but 10-1 New Year's Day and jockey Martin Garcia, 8th early, came through on the rail to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:43.52. It was another 3/4 length back to Strong Mandate third.
Owner Gary West said, "We've had a lot of nice wins, and we've won a lot of Group 1 races, but this is by far the biggest accomplishment that Mary and I have ever achieved in horse racing. I think when everybody takes a look at what's happened over the last couple of days with the incredible speed bias, and when you go watch the replay of this race to see the amount of ground that this horse made up, I think it's going to be an impressive race when the sports writers and all the equine analysts take a look at this."
New Year's Day wins the Juvenile
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
4 New Year's Day Garcia 23.00 9.20 6.60
13 Havana Stevens 4.60 3.40
14 Strong Mandate Rosario 6.00
Winning Time: 1:43.52
$2 Exacta 4-13 53.90
$2 Trifecta 4-13-14 476.10
$2 Superfecta 4-13-14-5 3,807.60
Left: New Year's Day heads to the winner's circle. Jockey Martin Garcia said, "My horse doesn't have that much pace. I was exactly where I wanted to be. I saved ground at every corner. The rail was open and I took it. I didn't panic. My horse was ready to start running. I thought I had a lot of horse. I had never ridden him in a race, but I have been getting on him in the morning most of the time. We're starting to get to know each other. It looks like a good team."
Right: New Year's Day heads back to the barn. Trainer Bob Baffert said, "You know, he's not a speed ball. I said don't get caught up in the track bias. Ride your horse, not the track. If he gets there, he gets there. If not, he's going to get something good out of it. We're looking down the road. So when he turned for home in that spot back there, he did the best job he could to keep him as clean as possible, but he didn't panic early and he rode a great race. He just bided his time and didn't get caught up in all the speed tactics. So when he turned for home, I knew about 16th pole that this colt was going to win."
Left: Second place finisher and beaten favorite Havana returns after the race. Trainer Todd Pletcher said, "I thought he ran super. He just came up a little tired in the very last part there. But he ran very well. I thought he actually settled beautifully. I'm really happy with the way he positioned himself. Gary (Stevens) said he got a little bit lost when he made the lead turning for home. Then he just got tired the last 100 yards."
Right: Third place finisher Strong Mandate in the post parade. Jockey Joel Rosario said, "Wayne (trainer Lukas) wanted me to put him in the race, which I did, he handled everything very well today. When Havana went by him, it looked like he slowed down for a few steps, but then he picked it right up again. He ran a huge race."
Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - There were 9 races Saturday highlighted by the $5 million Classic where American Pharoah was an impressive winner in his final start before retiring to stud. Also on the card, Found won the Turf, Nyquist won the Juvenile, and Tepin won the Mile. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here. Get more photos and comments for each race here.
Breeders' Cup Friday Results - There were 4 races Friday highlighted by the Distaff where Stopchargingmaria won by a neck over Stellar Wind and the Dirt Mile won by Liam's Map. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Thursday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 38 horses out on Thursday morning at Keeneland on both the main and training tracks, including American Pharoah. Beholder was also out, but was found to have bled when scoped and is scratched from the Classic.
Wednesday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 46 horses out on a very rainy Wednesday morning at Keeneland on both the main and training tracks, including Keen Ice, Frosted, and Golden Horn. No American Pharoah yet, hopefully he comes out tomorrow.
2015 Breeders' Cup Entries - Check out the entries, post postitions, and morning line odds for the 13 Breeders' Cup World Championship races to be held at Keeneland on October 30 and 31.
Tuesday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 31 horses out on a rainy Tuesday morning at Keeneland including Stephanie's Kitten, Grand Arch, and Private Zone.
Monday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 28 horses out Monday morning at Keeneland including Rachel's Valentina and a timed work by Beholder.
Sunday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 10 horses out Sunday morning at Keeneland including Liam's Map and Lea
Breeders' Cup Weather - Check out the latest weather forecasts for the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland
Review: Crushing the Cup 2015 - by Jim Mazur and Peter Mallett. An invaluable tool for trying to unlock the mysteries of handicapping the Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland updated for 2015.
2014 Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - The feature race was the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic won by Bayern. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here.
2014 Breeders' Cup Friday Results - Friday was headlined by the $2 million Ladies Classic won by Untapable. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Breeders' Cup History - Historical info, past results, and photos from previous runnings
The Breeders' Cup Championship Day - The official page for the Breeders' Cup championship races. Just about anything you need to know about it: results, video clips, and race calls for past years, and eventually nominations, entries, and results.
Free Prep Replays - for major prep races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge. The ones with camera logos have video available.
Blazing Silks, Breeders' Cup Edition- an interactive social network game that allows horse racing fans and social gamers to train and care for Thoroughbred horses.
TV Schedule - for all the preps and other programming leading up to the big day
Breeders' Cup Postcards - Breeders' Cup theme virtual postcards to send your friends including many past winners
Breeders' Cup Supplemental Entries - The old official policy on supplemental entries plus all the supplemental entries and how they fared, mostly it was a losing proposition. There are no more supplements now, only late nominations making it impossible to track now.