by Pete Denk

Santa Anita Park’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface produced a consistent stream of winners who rallied wide from off the pace on Friday, the first time the Breeders’ Cup World Championships were held on a synthetic track.

Through the first six main track races—which included all the Breeders’ Cup races contested on the Pro-Ride surface—every winner was at least three wide on the turn and all were third or further back in the field at the second point of call.

Jockey Garrett Gomez rode Ventura to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with a five-wide rally, coming from tenth place after four furlongs.

“It just seems like the ones who like [Pro-Ride], like it,” Gomez said. “It hasn’t been playing like this previously. I don’t know if the track changed.

“Zenyatta come from off the pace. Ventura come from off the pace. Stardom Bound come from off the pace. I think maybe they were just the best.”

All the winners had previous wins on a synthetic track or turf. Gomez’s mount in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies' Classic (G1), Hystericalady, extended her winless record on synthetic tracks to six races.

“She’s one of those horses that isn’t quite the same on it, and it’s a shame because she really showed me some brilliance on the dirt earlier this year,” Gomez said. “When they don’t like it, you kinda have to make them do everything. That’s a sign they aren’t liking it too much.”

The turf winners followed a similar pattern with wide rallies from off the pace. Jose Valdivia Jr., who rode Vacare in the Emirates Airlines Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1), said the turf course is very firm, but fair in terms of where the winner can be placed.

“It’s very firm, but it’s very fair. As you saw, the winner [Forever Together] came from way out of it. They went very slow up front, and they were still run down by the winner,” Valdivia said. “A horse that’s not used to having such a firm turf course or a horse that wants a little cut in the ground, they’re not going to find this course to their liking.” 

Pete Denk is sales editor of Thoroughbred Times