If a fan can’t leave two days of Breeders’ Cup stimulation without some everlasting memories, what hope is there? Fortunately, the 2024 version at Del Mar provided more than a few.
Some memories linger in spite of themselves, which is why it is hard to forget the shellacking California stables took at the 2023 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park. Fourteen races, zero wins, and only two in the money—Muth and National Treasure —from the Bob Baffert barn.
This time around, the home field advantage was not squandered. Californians John Sadler, Dan Blacker, and Baffert won races with Full Serrano , Straight No Chaser , and Citizen Bull , while Tim Yakteen was about to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T) with Johannes when More Than Looks came from the clouds to seize the day.
Phil D’Amato had a Breeders’ Cup to remember after sending forth three runners to finish second. Vodka With a Twist was second best to slam-dunk champion Immersive in the Juvenile Fillies (G1), Iron Man Cal was beaten narrowly by Henri Matisse in the Juvenile Turf (G1T), and Motorious lost the Turf Sprint (G1T) by a neck, with local mare Ag Bullet a nose back in third for Richard Baltas.
It is also worth remembering that the fourth-place finish of Gold Phoenix in the Turf (G1T) for D’Amato was a mirror-image of his fourth in the 2023 Turf at Santa Anita. California grass horses are maligned with regularity, but the record shows that the only North American horse to finish in front of Gold Phoenix in two BC Turf dances was champion Up to the Mark .
Agave Racing’s Mark Martinez, who started the Saturday card by winning the Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) with Soul of an Angel , paid $125,000 for a quarter share of Gold Phoenix at the Keeneland Championship Sale the previous Wednesday. Fourth in the Turf was worth $250,000, so, if my calculator is telling the truth, Martinez is already halfway out with his Agave Racing’s investment in the consistent gelding.
Helicopters and A Stewards’ InterView
Dale Gibson, retired British rider and executive director of the Professional Jockeys Association, was on hand with his son, George, to watch PJA members Ryan Moore, William Buick, Colin Keene, and Rossa Ryan win Breeders’ Cup events. They also took in some of the San Diego attractions, including the famed Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park.
“And who do we see there?” said Gibson. “Aidan O’Brien and his sons, Joseph and Donnacha. We all climbed into the helicopter on display and had a picture taken.”
That would be the Robinson R44 single-engine helicopter equipped with a semi-rigid two-bladed main rotor, a two-bladed tail rotor, and a skid landing gear.
Gibson ended his weekend Sunday morning alongside Rossa Ryan during a stewards interview regarding a spot of bother near the end of the Turf Sprint. Another rider took exception with Ryan’s alteration of course aboard victorious Starlust . The result stood. The real culprit was Irad Ortiz, Jr.—bearing outward under a left-handed whip applied to Cogburn , the tiring favorite—but in some cases a rider can be penalized even though there is no change.
“He’s a rising star,” Gibson said of Ryan Saturday afternoon. “You’ll be hearing a lot from him. Hopefully, he won’t be stood down, but if it happens I’m sure he’ll handle it well and move on.”
The stewards took no action.
“Before we started, they asked what my record was this year in hearings like this,” Gibson said the next day. “I told them I was 7-for-9, in the rider’s favor, and one of the ones I lost I was on vacation. On leaving they said, ‘Percentage improved.'”
O’Brien TAkes The BLAME
After saying over and over again that City of Troy was the best horse he’d ever trained, Aidan O’Brien had to come up with something after City of Troy bombed in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). Of all his post-race offerings, no one should ever forget the mea culpa O’Brien delivered to NBC’s Nick Luck in the saddling paddock as the trainer prepared to saddle Content for the Filly & Mare Turf (G1T).
“I just didn’t have him prepared quick enough to come out of the stalls. We thought he was quick, but he got left three, four lengths and gave Ryan no chance, really. Gave the horse no chance.”
The “stalls” is the starting gate, and Ryan is jockey Ryan Moore. O’Brien continued:
“Listen, we’re learning all the time. In my opinion, I should have had him coming out quicker and traveling quicker. When you get back that far on that dirt surface, you couldn’t do anything about it. Hopefully, we’ll try harder next year.”
City of Troy struggles to deal with dirt kickback as he passes the stands for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar
At this, O’Brien flashed a boyish grin. Luck suggested some horses are meant for the dirt, some not. O’Brien adjusted his hair and harkened to City of Troy’s pre-Cup workout over a Tapeta surface back home.
“Yeah, listen, I think you have to have them prepared properly as well. He just wasn’t. He broke quick, but he didn’t get into top gear quick enough. When we brought him to Southwell, we got the other horses to lead him. Came out and went hard. But maybe we should have kicked him out and let him lead, if you know what I mean. I think if we have him like that, he still only end up in a normal position here, if you know what I mean. So, there you go, but this and that.”
And so it goes, if you know what I mean. O’Brien, who will likely keep his job, returned to Content’s saddling stall, where a few moments later the trainer could be seen taking a curry comb to the rich mane and shining flanks of the filly. Doing the work.
Even Crying Babies Have a Place
Cruising through the jam-packed stands, it was encouraging to see so many kids in the Breeders’ Cup crowds, especially during the marathon Saturday program. Their presence tripped the memory of my Lutheran pastor’s remonstration that even crying babies had a place in church, because if nothing else they would benefit from the environment, and something positive might sink in.
It would be pretty to think that 20 years from now that 10-year-old collecting discarded Breeders’ Cup tickets will win a handicapping contest or own a racehorse.
I’m not so sure, though, about the little one in a stroller wearing purple hair ribbons, who spent the entire post parade for the Filly & Mare Turf wrestling with a shoe. Moira finally won and the shoe finally came off, and I’m not sure which celebration was more joyful.
Remembering Jayarebe
Finally, I will remember standing with John Gosden in the moments before the field for the Breeders’ Cup Turf left the gate. The British mare Emily Upjohn held his hopes in the race. Just before the flag went up, Gosden pointed to the name of Jayarebe in the program.
“He’s the danger,” the trainer said, an observation that made sense, since Jayarebe was on an upward trend that included a solid second to 3-year-old star Economics and a win in a testing group 2 race at Longchamp.
Emily Upjohn did not break well, prompting Gosden to spend the next moments agonizing over a slow pace that would leave his mare far too much to do. But at least the daughter of Sea the Stars would go home with her people.
After finishing seventh, Jayarebe collapse while gearing down and died of what was referred to as a likely cardiac event, which is what vets call it because horses—being herbivores who get lots of exercise—do not have heart attacks as humans know them.
Jayarebe was the first Breeders’ Cup race fatality since the Classic death of Mongolian Groom in 2019. According to California regulations, an official necropsy will be performed for ongoing research into such non-injury sudden deaths. Perhaps, then, Jayarebe will not have died in vain.
Jayarebe, who died at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, wins the Hampton Court Stakes at Ascot Racecourse earlier this year
