by K. T. Donovan
The French connections of Spirit One (Fr) enthusiastically celebrated the confirmation of their belief that they had the European horse to beat in the Arlington Million Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park on Saturday.
“Yes, oui, yes, oui, oui, oui!” shouted Ludovic Rovisse, assistant and nephew to trainer Philippe Demercastel, who ran onto the track with his arms in the air to greet his 13.70-to-1 upset winner. “I told you he was good horse. I knew since one week ago he would win.”
Indeed, with all the attention paid to Mount Nelson (GB) and Archipenko, Spirit One slipped under the radar.
Spirit One went straight to the lead in the Arlington Million, but few predicted he would be in front at the finish of the 1 1/4-mile race, winning by three-quarters of a length in 2:02.17 on firm turf.
The 2008 edition of the Arlington Million was an affirmation of confidence for the winning connections but a race plagued by unpleasant surprises for others.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Einstein (Brz) stumbled out of the gate and dropped well off the pace through six furlongs before approaching the leaders on the turn. Einstein could not sustain his five-wide bid and finished fifth in the seven-horse field.
Trainer Bobby Frankel scratched expected pacesetter Sudan (Ire) from the race on Friday, and there was no clear choice to control the early tempo. Jockey Ioritz Mendizabal guided Spirit One to an uncontested lead with Johnny Murtagh holding Mount Nelson under tight restraint in second outside of Kevin Shea and Archipenko along on the rail.
Boxed in by Mount Nelson, Archipenko had no room to run in the stretch. Archipenko finally got free when Mount Nelson began to falter, and he closed with a rush but came up short to finish second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Mount Nelson.
“There is no way he should have lost,” Archipenko’s trainer, Mike de Kock, said as he struggled to control his anger. “Murtagh kept him on the fence when he knew his horse was going nowhere. Kevin [Shea] said he was on the best horse.”
Demercastel, who had traveled to the United States for the Arlington Million in 1982 as an exercise rider on Al Nasr (Fr) for Andre Fabre, said he wanted to come back for a long time and chose Spirit One as the horse to do it.
Demercastel felt Spirit One would benefit from the shorter stretches in America and relish the 1 1/4-mile Million distance after failing to win Group 1 races at longer distances in Europe against stars such as Duke of Marmalade and Soldier of Fortune.
“For a small breeder, this is exceptional,” owner-breeder Kamel Chehboub said. “I will certainly think about running him in America again, in a program adapted to his needs. But first, he will go home to recover from this very hard race.”
Out of the winning Sicyos mare Lavayssiere, Spirit One improved to four wins in 17 career starts, boosted his earnings to $1,099,618, and rewarded his connections' confidence in his ability.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
K. T. Donovan is a Thoroughbred Times contributing writer