After 2 scratches, a short field of just 7 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. Last year's last place finisher Masochistic was the 8-5 choice off his win in the Pat O'Brien (G1) at Del Mar. In to challenge him included 5-2 second choice A.P. Indian, winner of 5 straight including the Vanderbilt (G1) and Forego (G1) at Saratoga, and 4-1 third choice Drefong, winner of the King's Bishop (G1).
Drefong leads down the stretch
Jockey Martin Garcia sent Drefong to the lead exiting the chute through an opening quarter of 21.49 before Masochistic took over on the far turn through a half in 44.03. Entering the lane Drefong regained the front through 5f in 55.98, and pulled away late to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:08.79. It was just a nose back from Masochistic to late-running 15-1 Mind Your Biscuits third.
Drefong wins the Sprint over Masochistic
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
2 Drefong Garcia 9.80 4.80 3.80
7 Masochistic Smith 4.00 2.80
1 Mind Your Biscuits Rosario 4.60
Winning Time: 1:08.79
$1 Exacta 2-7 15.00
$1 Trifecta 2-7-1 112.30
$1 Superfecta 2-7-1-5 249.10
Left: Drefong heads to the winner's circle. Winning jockey Martin Garcia 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: The trophy presentation for the Sprint. Winning owner Susan Chu said, "Yeah, we actually started show jumping, and since all of our family -- myself, my daughter, my son -- we are all riding horses. We love horses when the kids were so young. And after that, we watched the Kentucky Derby years ago and my husband and I took our kids to Churchill Downs to watch the Kentucky Derby. It was a surprise: Oh, this horseracing is totally different. It's amazing sport. So I turned ahead to my husband and said, Charlie, let me do horseracing. How's about that?"
Left: Drefong in the post parade.
Right: Drefong heads back to the barn after the race. Winning trainer Bob Baffert said, "When I saw Masochistic out there with Mike Smith, I thought that horse is running his A-game, and I've been watching that horse train. So I knew it was going to be a battle. But the 3/8 pole it looked like Masochistic was going to have the edge on us. But, you know, this little horse and Martin, when the running started, he just brought it. And the 1/8th pole, it just shows you the will to win they have. Both horses were just champions. They were just throwing it down."
Left: Second place finisher and beaten favorite Masochistic returns after the race. Jockey Mike Smith said, "My horse ran dynamite but Drefong was tremendous. I wish there was something I could have done differently but Drefong just kept running. Every time I thought I would go get away, there he was again." Trainer Ron Ellis added, "I thought we were a winner at the 1/4 pole, but the other horse (Drefong) just dug in and outgamed us to the wire."
Right: Third place finisher Mind Your Biscuits in the post parade. Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. said, "He ran great. All respect to the two horses that beat us. He ran the race he needed to run and showed he's competitive in here. There's always that saying ‘I wish the wire was a little bit farther’ because he galloped out in front (of Drefong and Masochistic). He showed he belonged. He's a real professional. He handles himself well and knows what his job is and loves doing it. He takes it easy on himself."
2016 Breeders' Cup Saturday - There were nine Breeders' Cup races on Saturday at Santa Anita headlined by the Classic (G1) where Arrogate ran down California Chrome to win by a half length. Also on the card, Tourist upset Tepin in the Mile (G1) and Champagne Room was a huge upset in the Juvenile Fillies. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 12 stakes on the card. More photos: Classic - Juvenile Fillies - Turf Sprint - F&M Sprint - F&M Turf - JuvenileSprint - TurfMile
2016 Breeders' Cup Friday - There were four Breeders' Cup races on Friday at Santa Anita headlined by the Distaff (G1) where Beholder edged out favorite Songbird to win her 3rd Breeders' Cup race. Also on the card, New Money Honey won the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), Tamarkuz won the Dirt Mile (G1), and Oscar Performance won the Juvenile Turf (G1). Get the results, charts, and photos for all 8 stakes on the card. More photos: Juvenile Turf -
Juvenile Fillies Turf -
Dirt Mile -
Distaff
2016 Breeders' Cup Thursday Works - Photos and comments for 39 of the Breeders' Cup horses on Thursday November 3 in the morning at Santa Anita, including Found and the rest of the Aidan O'Brien horses out of quarantine.
2016 Breeders' Cup Wednesday Works - Photos and comments for 33 of the Breeders' Cup horses on Wednesday November 2 in the morning at Santa Anita, including Flintshire and Beholder as well as California Chrome.
2016 Breeders' Cup Tuesday Works - Photos and comments for 66 of the Breeders' Cup horses on Tuesday November 1 in the morning at Santa Anita, including California Chrome.
2016 Breeders' Cup Monday Works - Photos and comments for 53 of the Breeders' Cup horses on Monday October 31 in the morning at Santa Anita.
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Breeders' Cup program pages to print - these are the short version with number, odds, silks, and basic info from BreedersCup.com for Friday and Saturday.
DRF Quick Sheets for the Breeders' Cup - a very short overview the last 3 Beyer figures for all the horses for Friday and Saturday.
Breeders' Cup Weather - Check out the latest weather forecasts for the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita
Review: Crushing the Cup 2016 - by Jim Mazur and Peter Mallett. An invaluable tool for trying to unlock the mysteries of handicapping the Breeders' Cup races at Santa Anita. Updated for 2016, this is their 25th anniversary edition.
2015 Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - The feature race was the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic won by American Pharoah. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here.
2015 Breeders' Cup Friday Results - Friday was headlined by the $2 million Ladies Classic won by Stopchargingmaria. 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.
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.