Gun Runner wins Classic, bucking day of long shots

DEL G MAR, Calif. UN Runner’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday restored some order to the universe after a topsy-turvy day of horse racing that produced an almost uninterrupted parade of long shots.

Though Gun Runner’s anticipated duel with the Bob Baffert-trained Arrogate in the $6 million Classic failed to materialize after the latter stumbled out of the gate, the race was a good one.

Gun Runner, trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Florent Geroux, went to the front immediately, with another Baffert-trained runner, Collected, in hot pursuit. Those two remained glued together through solid opening fractions of 46:31 and 1:10.50.

Only in the upper stretch did Gun Runner began to inch away from his pursuer. At the wire, the winner of four straight Grade 1 races was 2¼ lengths clear of Collected, with the Baffert-trained West Coast another 1¼ lengths back in third. Final time was 2:01.29.

After recovering from his troubled start, Arrogate raced near the back of the pack early under Mike Smith. He gained some ground late without threatening and finished in a dead heat for fifth, just over six lengths behind the winner. The Juddmonte Farms runner, who was brilliant as a 3-year-old and early this year before three straight disappointing efforts at Del Mar, will be retired to stud.

While the favorite didn’t win the Classic — Gun Runner and Arrogate both went off at 2-1, but the winner had a bit less bet on him — the results provided some comfort to horseplayers who like to believe that the outcomes of these equine contests aren’t completely random.

Earlier the seaside oval might as well have been shaped like a question mark.

The parade of head-scratchers began immediately with Caledonia Road (17-1) in the Juvenile Fillies and continued through the Turf Sprint (Stormy Liberal, 30-1); the

Filly and Mare Sprint (Bar of Gold, 66-1); and the Filly and Mare Turf (Wuheida, 11-1).

Heavily bet favorites, meanwhile, were flailing. Lady Aurelia, 4-5 in the Turf Sprint, faded to 10th. Even-money choice Unique Bella checked in seventh after briefly grabbing the lead turning for home in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Lady Eli, 7-5 in the Filly and Mare Turf, never got untracked and also finished seventh.

Sanity appeared to be trying to reassert itself as third-choice Roy H captured the Sprint at 9-2, followed by an actual favorite, World Approval, winning the Mile on the turf at 5-2.

But the carpet bombing wasn’t over yet, as Good Magic (11-1) scored a convincing victory in the Juvenile, followed by French invader Talismanic (14-1) triumphing in the Turf.

It took Gun Runner, whose only loss this year was to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup, to set the world aright.