Gate to Wire And A Course Record For Belvoir Bay
ARCADIA, Calif. (Nov. 2, 2019) – Gary Barber’s Belvoir Bay ($31.60), the only mare in the field of 12, grabbed the lead out of the gate and never trailed in winning the 12th running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up by 1 ¼ lengths over Om Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita.
Trained by Peter Miller and ridden by Javier Castellano, Belvoir Bay covered the 5 furlongs on a firm turf course in :54.83, a course record.
Miller, who also saddled Om to complete the exacta, won the race for the third consecutive year as Stormy Liberal had prevailed at Del Mar in 2017 and Churchill Downs in 2018. It is Miller’s fifth Breeders’ Cup victory and the 12th for Castellano and first in the Turf Sprint. Stormy Liberal finished eighth in this year’s renewal.C
Belvoir Bay is a 6-year-old British-bred daughter of Equiano (FR) out of the Rock of Gibraltar mare Path of Peace. The victory was worth $550,000 and increased her earnings to $1,699,787 with a record of 28-12-6-2.
Race Quotes:
Winning and second-place trainer Peter Miller (Belvoir Bay (GB) and Om) – “I was looking at Stormy, Om and Belvoir Bay and all three broke sharp, so that was key. I wanted them all to break sharp and they did. All three jockeys followed instructions to perfection. She’s just a tough filly. She’s just so tough. I was telling everyone all week that she ran second to Blue Point and Blue Point would be even money in this race. She got no respect. I don’t know what they were thinking, but Mr. Barber had confidence and he bet with both hands. Om ran awesome. Stormy Liberal is not quite the horse he was the last two years, but he was right there. He ran his butt off. And then Om, I can’t say enough about how great he ran. To get his head down for second and run one-two in this race again after doing it two years ago is just phenomenal. I felt good at the eighth pole. I felt real good at the wire.”
Winning jockey Javier Castellano (Belvoir Bay (GB)) – “This horse just rocketed out of the gate, and the break is so important in these races. She relaxed for me around the turn and it gave me confidence that we were going to win. Peter told me the horse was training great and he had confidence in me. I’m very lucky and happy to be part of this horse.”
Check out other Breeders’ Cup results here.
