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Joel Rosario celebrates aboard Accelerate after winning the Classic.

Breeders' Cup
World Championships Results

Date: 11/03/2018

Saturday Results Summary:   F&M Sprint -  Turf Sprint -  Dirt Mile -  F&M Turf -  Sprint -  Mile -  Distaff -  Turf -  Classic
Friday Results Summary: Juvenile Turf Sprint -  Juvenile Fillies Turf -  Juvenile Fillies -  Juvenile Turf -  Juvenile  
Entries   -   Saturday Works   -   Sunday Works   -   Monday Works   -   Tuesday Works   -   Wednesday Works   -   Thursday Works

The 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships ended on Saturday with 9 races all with year-end championship implications. Just 70,423 fans were in attendance at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on a mostly sunny afternoon with a temperature of 55 when the Classic went to post.


Down the stretch with Accelerate out front
The $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) features the best older horses going 1 1/4 miles on the main track. Accelerate was sent off as the 5-2 favorite in the field of 14, exiting wins in the Gold Cup (G1), Pacific Classic (G1) and Awesome Again (G1). In to challenge him included 7-2 second choice McKinzie, winner of the San Felipe (G2) and Pennsylvania Derby (G1), and 5-1 third choice Catholic Boy, off wins in the Belmont Derby Invitational (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1).

Jockey Ryan Moore sent 13-1 Mendelssohn to the lead first time by and he set fractions of 22.68, 46.46, and 1:10.61 while pressed by McKinzie and stalked by 13-2 West Coast and 14-1 Thunder Snow. On the far turn, Mendelssohn continued to lead through 1 mile in 1:35.90 before tiring. Accelerate, 5th early under Joel Rosario, came out 4 wide into the stretch to gain the lead at the 3/16 pole. Accelerate held off late-running 30-1 Gunnevera by a length for the win in 2:02.93 over the fast main track. It was another 3/4 length back to Thunder Snow third.

Accelerate wins the Classic
Pgm  Horse               Jockey            Win   Place  Show
14   Accelerate          Rosario          7.40    6.00  4.40
 4   Gunnevera           Ortiz Jr.               21.80 11.80
 1   Thunder Snow        Soumillon                      8.00

Winning Time:  2:02.93

$1 Exacta 14-4                           130.80
$1 Trifecta 14-4-1                     1,613.10
$1 Superfecta 14-4-1-10               16,179.10
$1 Super High Five 14-4-1-10-9       343,497.90
$2 Pick Six 6-9-7-11-2-14              3,706.60
Results chart

Left: Accelerate in the winner's circle. Winning trainer John Sadler, celebrating his first Breeders' Cup win, said, "It's obviously a point of contention for me, but we got the big one. He ran a great race and Joel rode him perfectly. We were really thrilled. He did such a good job, kept him clear. We thought that post might be a bonus on the outside. He never got in trouble and never had anything in front of him. He just stayed a little wide and won the race."

Right: The trophy presentation for the Classic. Winning owner Kosta Hronis said, I think he’s done something no one else has done. He swept the California G1s. He’s undefeated at 1 1/4 miles. I think today, they’ve been saying all along that, he had to win the Classic to be in the conversation. He won the Classic, and then I read somewhere where it said maybe he did this all on the wrong year, but maybe Justify won the Triple Crown in the wrong year, I don’t know. This horse is special. He’s showed up every time. He’s danced every dance. He’s been solid. This is Horse of the Year. It’s a body of work, and what he has done in the last 12 months, I think he’s well deserved to be of that honor."

Left: Accelerate walks over before the race. Sadler added, "We have an option to run him in the Pegasus. The plan right now is he’ll probably go up to Lane’s End Farm in Lexington tomorrow, and they’ll show him there as a stallion this week, we’ll bring him back to California, and if all is good, will probably go in the Pegasus, kind of our all-out Gun Runner of last year, and then he’ll go off to stud."

Right: Accelerate in the post parade. Winning jockey Joel Rosario said, "I was very confident in the backside when I got to the leader, when it cleared, and I can feel that he was getting nicely comfortable and it looked like he wanted to do that, and then I just — after that, I took the lead, and then I just had to keep after him because he’s the kind of horse, like I say, that he wants you to ride him, and then he give it to you."

Left: Accelerate parades with his flowers. Hronis added, "I just kept waiting to see the finish line. Just like it couldn’t come fast enough. When he came around the corner — Joel kept him out of trouble. He does like to stay a little to the outside. That seems to be his style, stays out of trouble, and I think that’s always been kind of a thing you want to do if you think you have the best horse, keep him out of trouble, let him run his race. If he gets beat, he gets beat."

Right: Accelerate heads back to the barn with his winner's blanket.

Left: Second place finisher Gunnevera returns after the race. Trainer Antonio Sano said, "I'm so happy for this horse. He ran second and had lost a couple lengths at the start. They sandwiched my horse. Every time we are closer and closer to winning a Grade 1. He's going to race in 2019 and will point to the Pegasus."

Right: Third place finisher Thunder Snow first time by. Trainer Saeed bin Suroor said, "He's run a really big race. I'm very pleased with that. The winner is a very good horse. This race is special as it brings together the best horses in the world. We have better horses this year and we've had a better season. He could go to the Dubai World Cup again."

Left: The horses break from the gate for the Classic. Jockey Jose Ortiz aboard 4th place finisher Yoshida (10) said, "I didn't want to be as far back early as I was but I felt in the first quarter of a mile that they were running away from me. I felt like they were going very fast and I didn't want to rush him too early. I saw Gunnevera inside of me and I used him as a target and he took me to the 3/8 pole. I thought I was going to win the race when I was in the clear at the 1/4 pole but then I saw Gunnevera came back and beat me. It took him a while to get going but when he did, he got rolling."

Right: Shortly after the start with Mendelssohn on the lead, McKinzie in second, and West Coast third. Bob Baffert trainer of McKinzie and West Coast said, "They looked good for about a mile. They just tired and they just didn't have it today. (McKinzie) is lightly raced and playing catch-up. I thought West Coast would run a little better than that. Accelerate is a good horse and he was the best horse."

Saturday Results Summary:   F&M Sprint -  Turf Sprint -  Dirt Mile -  F&M Turf -  Sprint -  Mile -  Distaff -  Turf -  Classic
Friday Results Summary: Juvenile Turf Sprint -  Juvenile Fillies Turf -  Juvenile Fillies -  Juvenile Turf -  Juvenile  
Entries   -   Saturday Works   -   Sunday Works   -   Monday Works   -   Tuesday Works   -   Wednesday Works   -   Thursday Works

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