A full field of 14 older horses went to post in the $1.5 million TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), a 6 furlong trip around one turn of the main track. Runhappy was sent off as the 8-5 favorite off 4 straight wins including the Phoenix (G3) and King's Bishop (G1). In to challenge him included 7-2 second choice Private Zone, winner of the Belmont Sprint (G3) and the Forego (G1), and 9-1 third choice Wild Dude off his win in the Santa Anita Sprint (G1).
28-1 Holy Boss and Private Zone dueled down the backstretch and around the bend through fractions of 22.05 and 44.31 while pressed by Runhappy and stalked by 23-1 Favorite Tale. Private Zone opened up a 1 1/2 length advantage in the stretch through 5/8 in 56.14, but Runhappy, 5 wide, ran him down in the last 1/16 to win by 3/4 length in a new track record of 1:08.58. It was another length back to Favorite Tale third.
Runhappy wins the Sprint over Private Zone
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
5 Runhappy Prado 5.20 3.40 2.80
13 Private Zone Pedroza 4.20 3.80
14 Favorite Tale Castellano 10.80
Winning Time: 1:08.58
$2 Exacta 5-13 24.40
$2 Trifecta 5-13-14 388.60
$2 Superfecta 5-13-14-7 5,255.20
Left: Runhappy in the winner's circle. Winning jockey Edgar Prado said, The plan was to try to go to the lead, come rolling out of there. Don't be bottled up behind horses. Unfortunately, he's not real quick out of the gate. We used Plan B, which is stay behind horses. He took a little kick back and that's where he dropped a little back in the turn. Once he realized it wasn't going to hurt him, he started picking up and finishing, you know. He's a very nice horse and I think he's getting better and better every time."
Right: Runhappy heads back to the barn after the race with a very happy groom. Trainer Maria Borell said, "I was concerned mostly about getting out of the gate. I thought once we were clear, we'd be okay. We kind of thought once he had kick back in his face, he wasn't going to be a fan of that. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous around the turn. Once he got going, I knew that we were okay and in the clear."
The trophy presentation for the Sprint. Winning owner Jim McIngvale said, Maria and Laura, the entire team, Cordell, and Omar, the exercise rider, have all done a great job of getting him ready. Then Edgar rode him like a champ, so here we are. We're very happy to be here. I've been in the horse racing game for 25 years. It's certainly the biggest win of my career. We knew he was going to freak on Halloween, so he did that, to coin a phrase. He's very talented. We're going to run him next year and see how he does and try to stretch him out."
Left: Second place finisher Private Zone in the post parade. Jockey Martin Pedroza said, "I was sitting right off the horse on the lead. The rider on (Holy Boss) was chirping at his horse and then my horse got a little keen on me. Coming down the lane, I hit him left-handed and he spooked a little bit at the first wire. Then I changed sticks right back. He ran hard. He's the best in my book. I want to run against (Runhappy) one more time. Next time, we'll beat him."
Right: Third place finisher Favorite Tale returns after the race. Trainer Guadelupe Preciado said, "He ran okay. We can't ask for better than what he did. We're happy. Those are two nice horses that finished ahead of him." Jockey Javier Castellano added, "There was a lot of speed in the race. We just wanted to sit behind the speed and just go from there. He closed very well today."
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: Runhappy in the winner's circle. Winning jockey Edgar Prado said, The plan was to try to go to the lead, come rolling out of there. Don't be bottled up behind horses. Unfortunately, he's not real quick out of the gate. We used Plan B, which is stay behind horses. He took a little kick back and that's where he dropped a little back in the turn. Once he realized it wasn't going to hurt him, he started picking up and finishing, you know. He's a very nice horse and I think he's getting better and better every time."
Left: Second place finisher Private Zone in the post parade. Jockey Martin Pedroza said, "I was sitting right off the horse on the lead. The rider on (Holy Boss) was chirping at his horse and then my horse got a little keen on me. Coming down the lane, I hit him left-handed and he spooked a little bit at the first wire. Then I changed sticks right back. He ran hard. He's the best in my book. I want to run against (Runhappy) one more time. Next time, we'll beat him."
