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Summary There were no real surprises in the Mile, the Juvenile and the Filly and Mare Sprint.
Fort Larned stole the show with a brave victory in the Breeders Cup Classic on Saturday, out-duelling Mucho Macho Man and leaving favorite Game On Dude in the dust.Game On Dude, unbeaten in five prior starts on the dirt track at Santa Anita, was the overwhelming favorite to give trainer Bob Baffert a first victory in the $5 million Classic -- the richest race in North America.Instead, he trailed in seventh, piling on the misery for Baffert, who had 10 runners over two days of Breeders Cup racing and saw just one land in the money, runner-up Executiveprivilege in the Juvenile Fillies.When these things happen, when things are hard, youve just got to move on, said Baffert, who received words of encouragement fromGame On Dude co-owner Joe Torre, the former World Series-winning manager of Major League Baseballs New York Yankees.A few minutes ago Joe Torre told me that youve got to forget it, Baffert said. Things that happened five seconds ago, youve got to let them go and move on. Thats what will happen.As Baffert went back to the drawing board, Fort Larned trainer Ian Wilkes and jockey Brian Hernandez were celebrating their first Breeders Cup triumph -- and in the race that capped the two-day, 15-race slate worth a total of $25 million dollars.Hernandez and Fort Larned took the lead into the first turn, extended it on the backstretch, then held on in a furious duel in the final straight to beat Mucho Macho Man by half a length.He was gaining on us, but our horse wasnt going to let him by, said Hernandez, who called the win a perfect 27th birthday present.Flat Out was third as Game On Dude, never beaten in five prior starts on the dirt track at Santa Anita, finished seventh in the 12-horse field in the 1 1/4-mile race.It was just one of the upsets produced as the Breeders Cup stormed home with nine races on Saturday.Little Mike was the big surprise in the $3 million Turf. Sent off at 17-to-1, the five-year-old gelding reminded observers he is a multiple grade one winner this year, holding off fancied home hope Point of Entry as well as St Nicholas Abbey -- who had won at Churchill Downs last year to continue Europes run in the 1 1/2-mile race.Joseph OBrien, whose victory last year aboard St Nicholas Abbey had made him the youngest jockey to win a Breeders Cup race, said his horse ran well, but just didnt have quite enough for unheralded Little Mike.When I asked him, he responded. We had to go a bit wide on the turn, but nonetheless he ran very well, OBrien said.Tapizar, dismissed at odds of 15-1, triumphed in the $1 million Dirt Mile and journeyman jockey Willie Martinez garnered the first Breeders Cup victory of his career when he piloted 13-1 Trinniberg to victory in the $1.5 million Breeders Cup Sprint.Filly Mizdirection, who hadnt raced since May, showed her male rivals how its done with a big stretch run to win the $1 million Turf Sprint by half a length.While trainer Aidan OBrien couldnt repeat in the Turf with St Nicholas Abbey, he and jockey Ryan Moore teamed up for a second straight win in the $1 million Juvenile Turf with George Vancouver.A year after the same duo brought Wrote to victory, Moore piloted George Vancouver through a tightly packed field to a 1 1/4-length win.There were no real surprises in the Mile, the Juvenile and the Filly and Mare Sprint.US turf star Wise Dan, trained by Charles Lopresti and ridden by John Velazquez, won the $2 million Mile in a course record 1min 31.78sec ahead of 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom.Excelebration, racing just a fortnight after a victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, was the best of the Europeans but finished out of the money in fourth.In the $2 million Juvenile, traditional pointer to next years Kentucky Derby, Shanghai Bobby lived up to his favorites status, using a determined stretch run to earn his fifth win in five starts and cement his claim to champion 2-year-old colt honors.In the Filly and Mare Sprint, it was Groupie Doll who stretched her winning streak to five graded stakes races this year, three of them in grade one events.
