NEWS
Wayne reigns with Spain
Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2000
Trainer pulls off a record-setting upset with Spain and Surfside
while Riboletta and Beautiful Pleasure spin their wheels
Wayne Lukas picked up in the 2000 Breeders' Cup championship where he had left off a year earlier-in the winner's circle after a longshot victory.
As the sun set at Gulfstream Park on November 6, 1999, Lukas basked in the glow of Overbrook Farm's Cat Thief, who defeated an all-star cast in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at 19.60-to-1 odds.
A year later, the Racing Hall of Fame trainer went into the $2,360,000 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), the first championship race on the November 4 program at Churchill Downs, with two three-year-old fillies. They were unquestionably quality fillies, but they appeared to be overmatched in another top-shelf field for the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares.
Overbrook's Surfside, slightly embarrassed when she was defeated in her Distaff prep at Keeneland Race Course on October 11 after a six-month layoff, was sent off at 10.30-to-1. Spain, a Grade 2 winner who had twice placed in Grade 1 races while in Lukas's care, was the second-longest price on the board at 55.90-to-1.
While the public's verdict on Spain may well have been a bit harsh, Lukas's starters were almost certain to carry hefty odds because Riboletta (Brz) overarched the field and was bet down to 2-to-5. John C. Oxley's Beautiful Pleasure, the defending Breeders' Cup Distaff winner and champion older female, was 5.10-to-1, and the hopes of the three-year-old class appeared to be carried by Alabama Stakes (G1) winner Jostle, who went off at 8.10-to-1.
Playing Lukas's game
But the Breeders' Cup is Lukas's game, and he has the hardware to prove it-a record 15 Breeders' Cup wins going into the Distaff. Well, make that 16.
Once again overlooked, Lukas silenced the doubters when Spain powered past front-running Surfside to win by 1 1/2 lengths under Victor Espinoza, who was riding the Thunder Gulch filly for the first time.
Surfside, who ran an impressive race under yet another canny Pat Day ride, held on gamely for second and gave Lukas a one-two finish. Surfside was 1 1/2 lengths ahead of 12.30-to-1 Heritage of Gold, whose championship aspirations had been tarnished by two poor performances before the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
Spain completed the distance in 1:47.66 on a track that was fast and hard-the typical condition of the Churchill surface on big-race days.
The race favorites ran poorly for no apparent reason. Riboletta, who had won six consecutive graded races, never seriously engaged in the battle and finished seventh, 8 3/4 lengths behind the winner. Beautiful Pleasure did only slightly better, finishing sixth. Jostle, winner of three straight graded races going into the Distaff, veered into Spain at the start, was shuffled to the back of the field on the first turn, and never was heard from again, finishing last of nine.
It was, in short, a bizarre beginning to an unusual day of racing in which heavy favorites bit the dust with stunning regularity. Spain became the longest-priced winner of the Distaff, exceeding the 47.10-to-1 odds of One Dreamer in 1994 at Churchill. Lukas won the Distaff for a fourth time, but it was his first score in the race since Sacahuista at Hollywood Park in 1987.
The one-two finish was a throwback to Lukas's domination in 1985, when Life's Magic defeated Lady's Secret at Aqueduct. The trainer also must have established a big-race record for himself when the Lukas exacta of Spain and Surfside paid $664.60.
Trainer Tom Amoss, who put Heritage of Gold back on track with easy workouts on the grass, had an explanation for the unusual turn of events. "It's Breeders' Cup day, " Amoss said. "Welcome to Wayne's world."
Nothing to lose
In fact, Lukas made the trip to the Churchill Downs saddling enclosure with nothing to lose, but the former basketball coach knew that his players had to be in the game to have any hope of beating older and more accomplished runners such as Riboletta and Beautiful Pleasure, both five-year-olds. "All we wanted to do was cruise out of there," he said. "And if they ran by us, they ran by us."
Much was on the line for Riboletta, however. Although she had done enough to win the Eclipse Award as outstanding older female, especially after soundly defeating Beautiful Pleasure in Belmont Park's Beldame Stakes (G1) on October 14, the striking Brazilian mare could have lost the title if Beautiful Pleasure had won the Distaff. In addition, co-owners Aaron and Marie Jones had put up a 20% supplemental fee, $400,000, to get Riboletta into the race.
Aaron Jones, 79, said he had anted up because he wanted the mare's talented trainer, Eduardo Inda, to have an opportunity to win a Breeders' Cup race. In the minutes before the Distaff, Jones expressed no concern about either the title or the money. "I have no worries at all," said the Oregon lumberman, who is a cancer survivor. "Money is the least of my worries." Jones had turned the Roi Normand mare over to Inda early this year after a nasty split with trainer Bob Baffert.
Ahmed bin Salman, who heads The Thoroughbred Corp., also expected Riboletta to win. "I would have been tickled to be third," said Salman, whose operation won its first championship-day race last year when Anees scored a 30.30-to-1 upset in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
Lukas, who trained Salman's Sharp Cat to a second-place finish behind Ajina in the 1997 Breeders' Cup Distaff, had had Spain transferred to his care after the filly ran seventh in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) for Northern California trainer Jeff Bonde.
"We thought we had to redo a few things," Lukas said after her victory in the Turfway Breeders' Cup Stakes (G3) on September 16. "We wanted to fill her out, get her stronger. We took our time this summer and had the luxury of Prince Salman saying 'Do whatever you want to do, and go wherever you want to go.' "
After a confidence-building start in a Belmont allowance race in July,
Spain won the Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks (G2) on July 29 and ran a respectable third behind winner Jostle in the Alabama. After the Turfway Park race, in which she led for much of the 1 1/16 miles and defeated older females, Spain was sent into the Spinster Stakes (G1) and followed the Joneses' Plenty of Light around the Keeneland track, finishing second by 3 1/2 lengths. Preentered for the Distaff, Plenty of Light was declared out on October 29 after filling developed in her left front ankle.
Lukas gave Spain a relatively quick five-furlong workout, :59 1/5, on October 25 and trained her up to the Distaff on strong gallops. "It's hard to ignore Surfside with her pedigree, but we said all week it would be hard to separate them," he said.
Espinoza gets mount
The trainer went outside his usual cadre of top jockeys for Espinoza, who has been riding well in Southern California and was recommended strongly for the mount by Richard Mulhall, who manages Salman's Southern California operation. "Dick Mulhall chose Victor Espinoza," Lukas said. "It was a good choice."
Indeed it was, in part because nothing went exactly as the 28-year-old native of Mexico City had expected. First, Spain was bumped by Jostle when leaving from the fourth post position. "I had wanted to be on the lead," Espinoza said. "I saw everyone taking back, so I said 'Okay, I will too.' "
Despite bountiful speed in the race, Day was allowed to slow the early fractions while on an uncontested lead with Surfside, who completed the first quarter-mile in :23.24 and the half-mile in a near-mirror image :46.38 (:23.14 for that quarter). With Spain coasting in the sweet spot just off the lead, Surfside threw in another even quarter (:24.04) to reach the final turn in 1:10.42 for six furlongs.
At that point, the Distaff fell apart for both Beautiful Pleasure and Riboletta. Breaking from the outside post with Jorge Chavez, Beautiful Pleasure had gotten away a bit slowly but rushed up to be second after a quarter-mile and was second entering the final turn. But she tired on the bend and began to fall back. "She had no kick at all," Chavez said.
Riboletta was in a striking position until the turn and had nothing to offer when regular jockey Chris McCarron asked her to run. "She's never been like this. She just didn't pull at all," the Racing Hall of Fame jockey said. "I kept trying to get her to pull on me, but she didn't and wouldn't respond at all."
Crimplene (Ire) loomed on the turn under Frankie Dettori and appeared destined to be a factor at the finish as the field turned for home. While the multiple classic winner would exhaust her run and finish fourth behind even-paced Heritage of Gold, she nonetheless took the outside path away from Spain and Espinoza. "I wanted to go outside but they wouldn't let me," Espinoza said.
"So I just held my breath and went through on the inside."
Surfside, who had finished second in a minor Keeneland stakes race after an abortive effort in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) a half-year earlier, resisted momentarily but began to tire. Spain gained a half-length advantage at the furlong pole, after a mile in 1:34.99, and gradually edged away to the wire. Out of the Regal and Royal mare Drina, Spain earned $1,227,200 and raised her career earnings to $1,959,135.
Salman said he hoped to race Spain as a four-year-old, and Riboletta is likely to race again next year. Beautiful Pleasure's future is in doubt, although trainer John Ward said he would recommend retiring her unless she has an opportunity to run on grass.
While Inda blamed the hard Churchill track for Riboletta's poor performance, Ward said he believed the hard race in the Beldame was to blame. "They ran hard and paid the price," Ward said.
Don Clippinger is features editor of Thoroughbred Times.
