Accelerate beat Gunnevera by a length at Churchill Downs, strengthening his bid against the retired Justify for Horse of the Year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Accelerate took the lead at the top of the stretch and held off Gunnevera to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by a length Saturday, strengthening his bid for Horse of the Year over Justify, the Triple Crown winner.
The race lacked the retired Justify and left a wide-open field, which Accelerate, a chestnut 5-year-old, eventually overtook after breaking from the No. 14 post as the favorite at Churchill Downs. Accelerate made a sweeping move in the far turn and was in charge at the top of the stretch. He then held off Gunnevera for his fifth consecutive Grade 1 victory and sixth of seven over all this year.
That gave the trainer John Sadler his first Breeders’ Cup win since his initial starter 30 years ago.
As for Accelerate’s being named this year’s top thoroughbred, Sadler said he would leave that to the writers who vote on the Eclipse Awards. He did note his own bias.
“To me, he’s the Horse of the Year, no doubt,” Sadler said. “He’s won all those great races. To win the Santa Anita Handicap,” in March, “was for me probably one or two on my bucket list.
“The Classic is a newer race but a great race, and he won that so smashingly. He’s just a great horse and had a great year.”
Ridden by Joel Rosario, Accelerate covered one and a quarter miles in 2 minutes 2.93 second and paid $7.40 on a $2 bet to win.
“He broke really well,” Rosario said. “I was on the outside and had to use him a little bit. I just wanted to get a position because I was way out there. I know I had a long run to the turn but I wanted to be not too wide.
“When I got to the backside, I tried to be in the clear, which is what he likes to do.”
The Classic triumph capped a successful Breeders’ Cup for Rosario, who also rode Game Winner and Jaywalk to victories on Friday in the Juvenile and the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Thunder Snow, who finished last here in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, came in third.
Off the board were the Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s duo of West Coast and McKinzie. They were expected to challenge Accelerate, but they finished seventh and 12th.
Gunnevera, Thunder Snow and the early pacesetter Mendelssohn made things interesting in a wide-open field, an upside to the absence of Justiry, horse racing’s 13th Triple Crown winner. An ankle issue led Baffert to retire Justify in July.
Accelerate claimed his fourth race in a row and answered the question of if he could continue his roll after beating West Coast by two and a quarter lengths in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. And it followed other notable performances on the second day of the $30 million Breeders’ Cup championships.
Monomoy Girl, the reigning Kentucky Oaks winner, bolstered her case as the top 3-year-old filly by winning the $2 million Distaff. The expected duel between her and the 2017 Oaks winner, Abel Tasman, never materialized, as Monomoy Girl made her move at the final turn and held off Wow Cat by a length for her sixth victory this season.
Peter Miller made Breeders’ Cup history as the first trainer to saddle two repeat winners in the same races. Soon after Stormy Liberal outdueled the favorite World of Trouble to retake the Turf Sprint by a neck, 6-year-old Roy H swept past Promises Fulfilled and flew to a three-and-a-quarter-length win in the Sprint.
Enable followed last month’s Arc de Triomphe victory by winning the $4 million Turf by three-quarters of a length over Magical. Enable, a 4-year-old British filly, became the first horse to win both prestigious races in the same year. She earned her 10th win in 11 career starts.
