World’s top-ranked horse in shock defeat
Mike Smith tried everything he could with Arrogate. He moved the colt to the outside, but he didn’t pick up the pace. Smith dropped him down near the rail before wheeling him outside once more.
Nothing worked. ‘‘He just wasn’t trying,’' the Hall of Fame jockey said.
Accelerate stunned overwhelming favourite Arrogate to win the US$300,000 San Diego Handicap by 8-1/2 lengths at Del Mar, snapping the seven-race winning streak of the world’s top-ranked horse.
Arrogate finished fourth, beaten by 15-1/4 lengths in the four-year-old colt’s first race since March 25 in Dubai.
‘‘I’m at a loss for words,’' Smith said. ‘‘He was just flat, so flat.’'
His trainer, Bob Baffert, was blunter, saying Arrogate ‘‘laid an egg.’'
It wasn’t the first time Accelerate got the best of Arrogate. Last year at Los Alamitos, Accelerate beat Arrogate by a neck in the colt’s career debut in a race won by another horse. It was Arrogate’s lone loss until yesterday.
‘‘I thought he’d run better than that,’' Baffert said, ‘‘but he just didn’t want to go.’'
Accelerate lived up to his name, leading all the way while covering 1700m in 1:42.15 for jockey Victor Espinoza.
‘‘He got in a nice rhythm; he was going easy,’' said Espinoza, aboard for the first time. ‘‘I was surprised by how far I won. I wasn’t surprised that I did; I was here to win.’'
All but US$214,466 of the US$2,671,938 total win, place and show pool wagering was bet on Arrogate, the $1.05 favourite.
Arrogate’s winning streak included the US$6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, the US$12 million Pegasus World Cup and the US$10 million Dubai World Cup. He earned US$18,000, boosting his career total to US$17,102,600, a North American record.
It wasn’t the first time Baffert had led a world-beater to the track only to watch him lose.
That’s what happened in 2015, when American Pharoah was stunned by Keen Ice in the Travers barely two months after becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
‘‘That’s why my hair is white,’’ Baffert said.
Arrogate will have a chance to turn the tables in the US$1 million Pacific Classic on August 19, when the two colts are expected to meet again.