Kicking off the Championship races on Saturday was the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), featuring the best 2-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Sweet Reason, winner of the Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga but second in the Frizette (G1) at Belmont, was the 3-1 favorite in the field of 10 over 7-2 Artemis Agrotera, winner of the Frizette (G1), and 9-2 Untapable, winner of the Pocahontas (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Ria Antonia (outside) is bumped by She's a Tiger (inside) in deep stretch
5-1 She's a Tiger and jockey Gary Stevens set an uncontested pace of 22.55, 45.31, and 1:09.30. On the far turn, Sweet Reason opened up a 4 length advantage but 32-1 Ria Antonia, 7th early under Javier Castellano, was closing well on the outside. Inside the 1/16 pole, She's a Tiger bore out and bumped Ria Antonia, and then the pair resumed their duel to the line with She's a Tiger finishing a nose in front, with late-running 11-1 Rosalind third. Due to the interference, the stewards disqualified She's a Tiger and placed her second, handing the win to Ria Antonia in 1:43.02.
Unfortunately, Secret Compass broke down at the 5/16 pole with a lateral condylar fracture with dislocation, which is not repairable, so she had to be euthanized. In addition, her jockey John Velazquez was injured in the spill and was taken to hospital to have a ruptured spleen removed. Gary Stevens, who would go on to win the Classic aboard Mucho Macho Man, was handed a three-day suspension for the bumping incident.
Ria Antonia (outside) finishing second by a nose to She's a Tiger (inside) was placed first due to a disqualification.
Left: Ria Antonia heads to the winner's circle. Jockey Javier Castellano said, "I had gotten by Gary (Stevens aboard She's a Tiger) but when he came in to me, he bumped me off stride."
Right: Ria Antonia in the paddock. Trainer Jeremiah Englehart, celebrating his first Breeders' Cup win said, "I don't usually root that much for my horses. But when I saw her, I was looking at the infield TV and I saw Javier get her in a nice position to make a run down the backside and was kind of picking horses off one by one. And I'm thinking well, she's 29-1, she'll probably fade here at some point because I was getting excited. Then when I saw he still hadn't cracked a whip yet, that's when I knew that she was going to finish."
Left: Second place by disqualification She's A Tiger in the post parade.
Right: She's A Tiger returns after the race. Trainer Jeff Bonde said, "This is heartbreaking – heartbreaking. There is nothing else I can say. She is still a wonderful filly, but this is just heartbreaking." Jockey Gary Stevens added, "I was really disappointed for the filly. She's a great filly and probably deserved to win. It was a tough call. The stewards made their call and I wouldn't disagree with that. I wouldn't have wanted to be up there in that booth with them."
Left: Third place finisher Rosalind in the post parade. Jockey Joel Rosario said, "She ran a huge race. We were far back early but I didn't want to take her out of what she likes to do. We had plenty of room on the inside, but I wish the race had been a little longer, like 1 1/16 miles 10 yards. She'll be better as the distances get longer."
Right: Fourth place finisher and Beaten favorite Sweet Reason. Trainer Leah Gyarmati said, "I thought we had it there for a minute. She made a huge move at the 1/16 pole and was even from there." Jockey Alex Solis added, "At the 3/8 pole, I decided to go out. She ran good."
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.
Left: Ria Antonia heads to the winner's circle. Jockey Javier Castellano said, "I had gotten by Gary (Stevens aboard She's a Tiger) but when he came in to me, he bumped me off stride."
Left: Second place by disqualification She's A Tiger in the post parade.
Left: Third place finisher Rosalind in the post parade. Jockey Joel Rosario said, "She ran a huge race. We were far back early but I didn't want to take her out of what she likes to do. We had plenty of room on the inside, but I wish the race had been a little longer, like 1 1/16 miles 10 yards. She'll be better as the distances get longer."
