Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Two Cup victories of biblical proportion
From the Breeders’ Cup Book of John, Chapter 9, Verses 1 and 2: “And ye who have fought to lift the Arc of the Covenant above all that you deem Holy shall find in the Promised Land renewed life and spirit, and the peoples of Sakhee, Trempolino, and Saumarez shall weep no more in the night as the light of the lamb shall show the way in only her third race of the year.”
Then let the reading continue from the Breeders’ Cup Book of John, Chapter 45, Verses All: “Oh, thou long-suffering pilgrim, rend thy garments nevermore and turn a blind eye to the gnashing of the teeth of the Scribes and Pharisees. Thy wanderings in the wilderness shall come to an end in the shadow of the Temple of Heroes, and ye shall breathe of the air of freedom from every other phone call.”
Okay, so Thoroughbred racing is not that biblical. But it can be operatic, and there is always a chance that certain moments – especially when wrapped in the royal purple of a Breeders’ Cup – will shake the house that Matt Winn built to its Kentucky clay foundations.
It happened at Churchill Downs when Personal Ensign emerged from the twilight to seal the deal on a perfect career, when Arazi raced into another dimension against the best the U.S. had to offer, and when Zenyatta came to the end of her fairy-tale story with an unthinkable defeat that rang with nobility.
Then it happened again on Saturday in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, as two young innocents from the Montagues and Capulets of international racing threw down on mushy ground in a horse race that was roundly anticipated and yet still defied belief.
Juddmonte’s Enable defeated Coolmore’s Magical – even their names cry out for song – and with her triumph, the 4-year-old filly erased the notion that the winner of the toughest grass race in Europe could not carry that form to victory in the toughest grass race in North America just four weeks later.
“She’s done it,” proclaimed trainer John Gosden as he embraced his wife, Rachel Hood, after Enable’s three-quarter-length margin was secure.
The third horse, the old pro Sadler’s Joy, finished nine lengths back, but it was a while before anyone got the cosmic joke. First, the stage had to be cleared for the running of what figured to be the most anticlimactic Breeders’ Cup Classic since Cat Thief beat Budroyale and someone else at the end of the last century.
At some point, however, as the 10-furlong maintrack grind unfolded, it became clear that the 5-year-old Accelerate was running his heart out for something other than the money. Then at the end, as Accelerate and Joel Rosario reached the wire a length in front of the rejuvenated Gunnevera, all eyes turned toward trainer John Sadler, who had lived with the shorthand description as the best trainer to have never won a Breeders’ Cup race for so long that he was considering a name change. Not really, but you get the idea.
Thirty years and 45 starters after Sadler’s first swing at the Breeders’ Cup, the nightmare was over, or the dream came true, depending on your point of view. Accelerate himself, in earlier, less formidable incarnations, had contributed two of those previous Breeders’ Cup losses. But this was a different animal, given a chance to mature as a racehorse as nature designs and economic pressure discourages.
Sadler did his best to make anyone who would listen understand that losing 44 races over a span of 30 years was not necessarily a psychological burden, and yet there it was, leading every Breeders’ Cup story.
“This is what I do every day, every year – train horses, run the barn, deal with problems right in front of us,” Sadler explained over and over. “Sure, I would love to win one of these, and we have come close. But you can only worry about what’s in your control.”
Sadler nearly broke through in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Saturday with the ambitious
Catapult, who had Analyze It narrowly measured to his inside but could not respond to the late kick of Frankie Dettori and Juddmonte’s Expert Eye bounding down the middle of the course. For Dettori, it was a frothy warm-up for the Turf, and he cut short his post-race media interview with a puckish, “I need to go start to worry about Enable.”
For Sadler, though delighted with Catapult, the Mile was merely No. 44. Accelerate’s performance finally ended the drip-drip water torture and allowed the trainer to visit emotions he’d only imagined.
“I can’t really talk to people I know right now,” Sadler said in the wake of the race as he navigated a sea of backslaps and cameras. “If I do, I might break down and cry.”
Gosden’s buttoned-down British reaction to Enable’s heroic performance was more like that of a military strategist who had just overcome insurmountable odds and opposition. In the moments before the race, he anticipated virtually every twist and turn, including what he foresaw as a double team from the other Coolmore entry, Hunting Horn, held at 114-1 in the tote.
“Magical is a true-quality filly, and as a 3-year-old, she’s getting weight,” Gosden said at the rail as they went down to the start, referring to the 123-119 weight spread.
“And then there is the unwanted guest,” offered Rachel, politely referring to Hunting Horn’s transparent role.
“Yes, they do hunt as a pack,” replied her husband, referring to the Aidan O’Brien entry. “Frankie knows where the good ground is, if he can get to it and stay there. But don’t be surprised to see Magical right there with our filly as they go past us.”
She was, as they did, barreling toward the tall finish pole with nothing between them and the whole racing world watching. Upon Enable’s return, Dettori gave the crowd what they came for, trotting along in splendid isolation, hailing the filly beneath him, then flinging handfuls of petals from the Breeders’ Cup garland before his second flying dismount of the day.
Rosario, a laid back Dominican, was somewhat more subdued, but only because nobody vamps like Frankie. And while the bond between Dettori and Gosden goes back to the jockey’s days as a wildfire teen, Rosario owes his earliest stateside success to Sadler. He even rode the first horse raced by Accelerate’s owners, Pete and Kosta Hronis.
The journey to glory of the two guys named John at the 2018 Breeders’ Cup can be traced to the handful of stalls they were allotted as young trainers in Southern California in the early 1980s, when the circuit was dominated by the powerhouse stables of Charlie Whittingham, Wayne Lukas, Bobby Frankel, Ron McAnally, and Gary Jones. It was a tough world to penetrate.
Gosden made his first big splash in 1983, winning the Santa Anita Handicap and an Eclipse Award with a leggy piece of work named Bates Motel. Sadler first came into wide view in 1986, when the dashing filly Melair burned Preakness winner Snow Chief in the Silver Screen at Hollywood Park.
“I’m very happy for John,” Gosden said as Accelerate ended the suspense. “He’s a lovely guy, and he’s been very consistent as a trainer.”
True enough, as illustrated by his patient work with the Classic winner. But considering that in her most recent four starts over the past 13 months, Enable has won the Arc de Triomphe twice and the Breeders’ Cup Turf, she tends to make the case for quality over quantity. But what, then, do you do with a horse like Accelerate, who lost just once in seven starts this year, narrowly, to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light, while winning four of the only five Grade 1 dirt races at 1 1/4 miles for all comers offered in North America?
“I’m just so proud of him,” Sadler said of Accelerate. “Sometimes you can get so caught up in winning races that you don’t spend the time to appreciate the way a horse develops into something special, if you give them the chance. I’m glad we gave him the chance.”
So endeth the reading. So endeth the lesson.