Candy Ride colt ran fast fractions on the front end and humbled a classy group late.
- By Jeremy Balan
Candy Ride colt ran fast fractions on the front end and humbled a classy group late.
- By Jeremy Balan
Gun Runner seemingly had everything working against him.
Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm’s 4-year-old Candy Ride colt hadn’t won at 1 1/4 miles yet. He got no breaks with a hot pace and Collected pressing him all the way. He worked against what appeared to be a bias against inside runners on the main track.
Gun Runner took it all and put everyone away in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 4. In the final furlong, he humbled a field full of class. Collected, who hounded the front-running Gun Runner all the way around the Del Maroval gamely held second, but was no match late, 2 1/4 lengths behind. West Coast finished an even third, another 1 1/4 lengths back, and War Story came in fourth.
Favored Arrogate, in his final start, finished in a dead-heat for fifth with Gunnevera, after he ducked in from the inside post and never really got involved.
fonte : Bloodhorse.com
fonte : Bloodhorse.com
Gun Runner triumphs as Arrogate fails to fire again
There was no glorious swansong for Arrogate on the final start of his career as he again fell short of the levels that had seen him compared to some of the greats in finishing a toiling fifth in a Classic won from the front by his big rival Gun Runner.
A sluggish start in which he dived to his left put him at an immediate disadvantage and jockey Mike Smith could never quite catch up as the Steve Asmussen-trained Gun Runner delivered an emphatic riposte to the horse who had humbled him in the Dubai World Cup in March.
Instead Arrogate’s trainer Bob Baffert, bidding for his fourth successive win in the Classic, had to settle for second from Collected, who pushed Gun Runner all the way, and a third from West Coast.
But he would have much preferred one last hurrah from the colt he had likened to Secretariat after he had circled the field to win at Meydan in March.
Arrogate had been beaten in both starts since his trip to Dubai, also at Del Mar, and Baffert said: “When he goes around these turns he loses momentum. He’s so much better than that.
“He is one of the greatest horses I’ve ever trained, I’m disappointed to see him go out like that.”
Smith said: “He broke very awkward and just doesn’t seem to get hold of this racetrack.”
Arrogate’s third failure overshadowed a blistering display from Gun Runner under Florent Geroux who did not hold back despite not having won over further than 1m1f.
They led from the gate, were pestered all the way by Martin Garcia on Collected, but were never headed on the way to a victory in the $6 million race that drew shrieks from Asmussen.
Geroux said: “He’s just a beast.”
Asmussen, who won the race previously with Curlin, said: “I can’t tell you how proud I am of Gun Runner. What a stage for him to show he’s the best.”
European hope Churchill, trying dirt for the first time, broke well enough but suffered the same fate as every other son of Galileo to try the surface, not one of which has made the frame.
The 2,000 Guineas winner started well but gradually fell away as the pace got too much.
Aidan O’Brien said: “Obviously it was all new to him. He travelled at a great pace that we know he has but it was just a new thing. We’ve been placed in the race two or three times but it’s a tough race.
“It was a bit tough early but he had to hold his position there, what could he do? We’ll look forward to him now at stud.”
He said his other runner War Decree would “go back to the grass at a mile and a quarter on fast ground.”
fonte : RacingPost
fonte : RacingPost
DOMENICA 5 NOVEMBRE 2017. America: Gun Runner strapazza Collected nella Breeders’ Cup Classic G1. Nulla da fare per uno spento Arrogate
La forma che batte la classe. Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) è rimasto a Dubai, con quella forma mai più replicata, uscito dalle gabbie lentamente è rimasto sempre nelle retrovie parecchio spento.
A vincere la Breeders’ Cup Classic edizione 2017 G1 da $6 milioni sui 2000 metri in sabbia di fronte a 37,692 occhi, è stato l’americanissimo Gun Runner (Candy Ride), un 4 anni allenato da Steven Asmussen e montato da Florent Geroux (primo fantino francese a vincere questa corsa, che nell’ultima parte di stagione ha fatto tutto molto bene accumulando una corsa come 23 lunghezze in 3 corse tra Churchill Downs e Saratoga al massimo livello tra Woodward Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, Whitney Stakes e prima ancora Stephen Foster Handicap G1 in Giugno, al rientro dalla campagna dubaiana che aveva fatto già intravedere dei barlumi di qualità interessanti confermati nei mesi successivi.
E pensare che in Marzo, a Meydan, nella Dubai World Cup avevamo visto 2 cavalli differenti. Uno fiero e caparbio come Arrogate, l’altro invece era Gun Runner in netta ascesa ma battuto nettamente dal grigio di Khalid Abdullah dopo prestazione gigantesca. I ruoli però, a distanza di parecchi mesi, si sono invertiti complice anche la campagna stagionale di Arrogate che gli ha permesso si di vincere anche la Pegasus World Cup, diventando il cavallo più ricco della storia, ma pagando anche molto in termini fisici nella seconda parte della stagione. Non sono macchine, lo ricordiamo.
Oggi a Del Mar, su una dirittura più corta ed una sabbia molto veloce, Gun Runner ha vinto con un divario inferiore alle ultime 3 corse disputate, ma con grande spinta dalla prima fase e con gran velocità di base alla fine della dirittura ha respinto Collected (City Zip), già capace di mettere il collare al peggior Arrogate della storia in Agosto, con il giovane West Coast (Flatter) al terzo posto e capace di una prestazione sopra la media che forse da l’idea di essere diventato un cavallo da seguire per la prossima stagione. Nulla da fare nemmeno per Churchill(Galileo), dal tentativo coraggioso ma nettamente inopportuno ed infruttuoso a certi livelli.
Il vincitore ha inscenato un bellissimo duello con Collected, ma alla fine ha vinto il cavallo più giocato ed appoggiato in America secondo le quote del Morning Line.
Gun Runner, di proprietà di Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC & Three Chimneys Farm, cioè l’establishment che possiede tra gli altri anche il miglior stallone americano quale Tapit, vanta ora 10 vittorie un 17 uscite per un bottino di oltre £6,5 milioni. Gun Runner è un figlio di Candy Ride (Ride The Rails), funzionante ad un tasso di monta di $60,000 presso la Lane’s End Farm, in Kentucky, ed è prodotto della fattrice Quiet Giant (Giant’s Causeway). Il titolo di Horse Of The Year è ora più vicino. Quanto ad Arrogate, ora il meritato riposo ed il nuovo lavoro di stallone.
