Breeders’ Cup: Sovereignty signs off with Classic triumph; record for Aidan O’Brien

Fourteen Grade 1 races and $30 million were settled at Keeneland on Friday and Saturday, and the two biggest questions of the meeting both got the same answer: neither Forever Young nor Notable Speech defended his title. Instead Sovereignty closed out his career by winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Aidan O’Brien set the record he had been heading towards for twenty-five years.

Sovereignty (Into Mischief) won Saturday’s Classic by a length and three-quarters and brought down the curtain on his career as the reigning Horse of the Year. Junior Alvarado had him fifth through opening fractions of 23.54 and 47.64, sent him on round the final turn and was in front inside the last. The time was 2:00.36 for the mile and a quarter.

Next came the three-year-old The Puma (Essential Quality), with another half-length back to Knightsbridge (Nyquist), who had set the pace – like the winner both owned by Godolphin and trained by Bill Mott.

Godolphin’s first Classic after nineteen attempts

The win was Godolphin’s first in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Sheikh Mohammed’s operation had sent out nineteen runners in the race without winning it. For Mott it was a third Classic after Cigar in 1995 and Drosselmeyer in 2011, and his 17th winner at the Championships, while Alvarado recorded his fifth Breeders’ Cup winner.

Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes last year, but had to come out of last year’s Classic at Del Mar.

He is now four from four over the trip and joins American Pharoah, Alysheba, Authentic, Ferdinand, Sunday Silence and Unbridled as horses to have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Both title defences failed

Defending Classic winner Forever Young (Real Steel) was sent off favourite but could finish only fifth. The Japanese yard did get T O Password home in fourth.

Two hours earlier Notable Speech (Dubawi) had been unable to defend his Mile title either. The Godolphin horse was a clear favourite under William Buick, but his late run never quite arrived and he had to watch Deterministic (Liam’s Map) win by three-quarters of a length under Kendrick Carmouche.

Lake Forest was third, while the 1000 Guineas winner True Love came home ninth.

A Japanese winner on dirt

Japan got its win somewhere else. T O Elvis (Volatile) took the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over six furlongs by a length and a quarter, beating the favourite Englishman.

The winner is trained by Daisuke Takayanagi and was ridden by Ryusei Sakai – the same partnership behind T O Password in the Classic, and the same rider who was aboard Forever Young.

Europe’s Saturday was rescued in the Turf

After winning all three turf races on Friday the Europeans drew a blank all Saturday, until Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) took the Breeders’ Cup Turf by three-quarters of a length. The Coolmore colt is out of Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega), who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) herself in 2018.

Ten of the fourteen runners in the race came from European trainers. Ryan Moore had again chosen him over stablemate Diamond Necklace (St Mark’s Basilica), and the choice held up: Christophe Soumillon was third on the filly, while the French-trained Map Of Stars came between them in second.

Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett) went off favourite for the Turf Sprint for Donnacha O’Brien and Billy Loughnane. He was unruly in the stalls, and he had to share fourth place in a dead heat. The race went to Bacio (Maclean’s Music) by two lengths for Wesley Ward.

The record fell on Friday

Aidan O’Brien came to Keeneland on 21 Breeders’ Cup wins. With Sun Goddess (Sioux Nation) in the Juvenile Fillies Turf he moved clear as the winningmost trainer in the history of the Championships.

Bob Baffert drew level ninety minutes later when Hughes (Into Mischief) won the Juvenile, but O’Brien went clear again the same evening with Haffner (Justify) in the Juvenile Turf and added Benvenuto Cellini on Saturday. He now stands on 24. The first came with Johannesburg in the Juvenile in 2001.

Haffner is in fact closely related to this year’s dual Scandinavian 1000 Guineas winner Sweet Sunshine (Iffraaj), whose second dam Angel Terrace is a half-sister to Haffner’s dam, Earth Strike.

Sun Goddess won by three lengths and with it took her fourth Grade 1 as a two-year-old and her seventh win of the season. Only Johannesburg has done the same under the Ballydoyle banner.

Friday’s other two races went to Libertango (No Nay Never), who opened the card by winning the Juvenile Turf Sprint under Billy Loughnane for George Boughey – Harper’s Corner was put down from third to eighth there for interfering with several of the field – and to Emphatic (Nyquist), who won the Juvenile Fillies by a length and a half under Tyler Gaffalione for Brendan Walsh.

The other winners of the two days

Saturday’s most emphatic display came in the Filly & Mare Sprint, where Ways And Means (Practical Joke) won by six and a quarter lengths for Chad Brown and Flavien Prat.

Brown also won the Filly & Mare Turf with Kathynmarissa (American Pharoah) under Jose Ortiz – his fifth win in that race.

The tightest finish was the Dirt Mile, where Further Ado (Gun Runner) and Flavien Prat won by a nose from Owen Almighty. In the Distaff the favourite Nitrogen (Medaglia d’Oro) won by two lengths for Mark Casse and Jose Ortiz.

Ryan Moore and Flavien Prat both finished the Breeders’ Cup with three wins, Jose Ortiz with two.

The Breeders’ Cup returns to Belmont Park in 2027 – the first time in New York since 2005.