Cabo Spirit gate-to-wire in the John Henry (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
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Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— Cabo Spirit, who hadn’t won since October 2022, pulled off a 24-1 shocker Saturday at Santa Anita when earning a gate-to-wire victory in the GII, $750,000 John Henry Turf Championship presented by 1/ST Bet going 1 ¼ miles on turf at Santa Anita.
Sent straight to the front by jockey Abel Cedillo, Cabo Spirit was able set a comfortable pace with little pressure. The 5-year-old gelding opened up his lead on the final turn and then gamely held off all comers to score by one length. There Goes Harvard (9-1) rallied for second under John Velazquez. It was another head back to Master Piece (8-1) in third with Dicey Mo Chara (7-1) completing the superfecta.
“The goal was to make the lead and if another horse sped ahead, let them go,” Cedillo said. “If not, the plan was always to get to the front and then try to slow down. That’s exactly what we did.”
Cabo Spirit set fractions of 25.13, 50.43, 1:15.13 and 1:39.06 for a mile before crossing the wire in 2:01.26.
A 5-year-old gelding by Pioneerof the Nile, Cabo Spirit had not won since taking the GII Twilight Derby as a 3-year-old at Santa Anita. Most recently, he ran an even third in a classified allowance at Del Mar going 1 1/16 miles on turf. Trained by George Papaprodromou for owner Kretz Racing, Cabo Spirit improved to 27: 5-3-6 while becoming racing’s newest millionaire. The $450,000 winner’s share pushed his earnings to $1,035,336.
“He ran huge,” Papaprodomou said. “He went out there and Abel did a great job, put them to sleep kind of and kept him going.”
Cabo Spirit paid $51.20, $20.40 and $12.60. There Goes Harvard, trained by Michael McCarthy, returned $11.00 and $7.80. Master Piece, trained by Richard Dutrow Jr. with Juan Hernandez up, paid $7.00.
Divin Propos, ridden by Antonio Fresu for trainer Phil D’Amato, was bet down to the 2-1 favorite from a 5-1 morning line and checked in fifth.
