Gimme A Nother is overtaken late by Kathrynmarissa to deny South Africa a first ever Breeders Cup win (Pic – Breeders Cup World Championship)
South African racing made an impact at the Breeders’ Cup over the weekend with a horse owned by Antony Beck’s Gainesway Stud winning the Gr 1 US$2 million Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday and on Saturday the Mauritzfontein Stud-homebred Gimmethegreenlight mare Gimme A Nother oh so nearly became the first South African-bred horse to win a Breeders Cup event.
To put that into perspective the only countries to have produced Breeders Cup winners to date are the USA, Ireland, Great Britain, France, Argentina, Canada, Japan and Germany, so South Africa would have become only the second Southern Hemisphere country to win a Breeders Cup race.
The Graham Motion-trained Gimme A Nother represented South Africa in the Gr 1 Maker’s Mark Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf over one and three-sixteenth miles.
The closest SA had previously come to winning a Breeders Cup race was in this same event in 2001 when Spook Express (Comic Blush) finished a 5,5 length second to Banks Hill, who is ironically the dam of Mauritzfontein’s stallion Ideal World.
Gimme A Nother was dismissed by the presenters, who only deemed it fit to make a joke about her name in the preliminaries, but she made them eat their words and laughter.
She broke well under the Breeders Cup’s second winning-most jockey, Johnny Velazquez, and was comfortable throughout on the rail in a midfield position in the 12-horse field.
She never had to check, meaning the pace set by Classic Q was consistent.
She cornered very well which allowed her to creep closer to the lead and it also put her in the perfect position to take the dream gap that had opened up on the rail in the straight.
Within a matter of strides the 10/1 shot had suddenly hit the front and looked all over the winner.
However, the Chad Browne-trained 11/2 chance Kathynmarissa (American Pharoah) burst out of the pack to nab her in the shadow of the post to win by 0,75 lengths.
The four-time Gr 1-winning European superstars Blue Bolt and Precise were well beaten, so this was a fine result for Gimme A Nother’s paddock value.
“She looked like she almost got there too easily,” trainer Motion said about Gimme A Nother. “I was afraid someone was going to be coming but she ran great.”
“Often times this filly, she only grabs the bit in the lane and [jockey] Jose [Ortiz], I can’t say enough about how he’s learned this filly and knows how to get along with her,” winning trainer Chad Brown said. “We had a plan. That last conversation walking out with me and him to the track was reaffirming where if you get a good ground saving position on that first turn, you can go wide as you want in that second turn because she’s a clear-run horse.”
The 5-year-old daughter of American Pharoah gave Chad Brown his second Breeders’ Cup win of the day and the 21st of his career — after having taken the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (Gr1) earlier in the day with Ways And Means.
It is Brown’s fifth career triumph in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
“I have a lot of experience in this race, particularly at Keeneland,” Brown said. “I’ve had great success running here all three times it’s been here, with a win the Stephanie’s Kitten. One thing I learned about the 1 3/16th (miles) here is it plays more like 1 1/4-miles. My stretch out horses didn’t get there, they got caught. So I had a lot of confidence that my filly on a cut back from 1 1/4 did have the stamina.”
Going off as the public’s third choice, Kathynmarissa ($13.24) settled in a tight spot mid-pack beneath jockey Jose Ortiz, behind reasonable opening fractions of 23.90 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 47.75 for the half-mile.
Despite racing between horses for much of her journey around the Keeneland oval, Kathynmarissa seemed to be traveling comfortably.
And when it came time for Ortiz to make his move, he quickly tipped Kathynmarissa outside and they found daylight. Runner-up Gimme A Nother was a stubborn foe, but Kathynmarissa eventually took her measure in deep stretch, as Jancis (IRE) finished third.Kathymarissa completed the 1 3/16-miles in 1:53.75, and Ortiz cited a sharp beginning as a major reason why his mare crossed the wire first.
“She broke alert and that helped me a lot,” Ortiz said. “That was the plan (to be wide in the stretch). I wanted to (tuck) in on the first turn and on the second turn, I wanted to go outside. That’s how she likes to run.”
Favoured Blue Bolt (IRE) settled in at the back of the pack early on and never seemed to find her footing on the firm Keeneland going — finishing 11th.
Bred in Kentucky by Don Alberto Corporation, Kathynmarissa recorded her third consecutive graded stakes victory in the Filly & Mare Turf.
The 5-year-old mare previously scored on the New York circuit with wins in the Flower Bowl Stakes (Gr2) at Belmont Park on Oct. 1, and the Diana Stakes (Gr1) on July 18.
Jancis (Ire) finished third, Expensive Queen (IRE) finished fourth, followed in order by Bless the Broken, Red Letter (GB), Precise (IRE), Vina Arana (IRE), Classic Q, Stellify, Blue Bolt (Ire), and Lush Lips (GB).
A field of 12 entered the gate following the scratches of Evershed (IRE), Thought Process and Eccentric (CHI) were scratched.
The victory of the unbeaten Nyquist filly Emphatic in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies over one and one sixteenth miles on the dirt on Friday saw the fruits of a strong partnership being reaped.
Co-owners, South African Antony Beck of Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen, have been partnering for 15 years and are having a terrific season, especially with their fillies as Luster won the King’s Plate Stakes (Canada’s biggest race) against males for the partnership in the summer.
“We’ve been very lucky,” Beck said of the partnership. “Had a lot of good horses with not buying that many horses. Andrew is an amazing partner and a really good friend. We’ve won some nice big good races together. This is definitely No. 1.”
Antony is the son of the legendary South African owner-breeder Graham Beck and it was fitting the Turffontein Gr 3 race named after the latter was on the same weekend as Antony’s big success.
