Johannes. (Benoit Photo)
With the win, Johannes earns a fees-paid berth for a return trip to the Breeders’ Cup Mile Nov. 1 at Del Mar
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.—Johannes made it back-to-back wins in the Grade II, $200,000 City of Hope Mile Saturday at Santa Anita when rallying under Umberto Rispoli to prevail by 1 ¼ lengths.
Sent off the 1-5 favorite, Johannes surged past leader Cabo Spirit inside the final furlong and crossed the wire in 1:34.13 to improve to 8-for-8 on Santa Anita’s turf course and 9-for-15 overall. With the win, Johannes also earned a fees-paid berth for a return trip to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Last year, Johannes finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile by three-quarters of a length after winning the City of Hope.
Johannes, a 5-year-old horse by Nyquist is trained by Tim Yakteen for owner-breeder CUYATHY LLC.
“This horse is a really good horse, and he has a special place with me,” Yakteen said.
Cabo Spirit (8-1), ridden by Mike Smith, tracked pacesetter Zio Jo (35-1) through a tepid opening half mile 47.47 seconds as Johannes was content to settle behind horses. But then down the backstretch, there was an anxious moment for the heavy favorite. Johannes appeared to raise his head and briefly lose his action before quickly regaining his momentum.
“The horse got a little aggressive with Umberto because he slowed up. He was waiting for Mike (Smith) to make his move, then we made our move,” Yakteen said.
Cabo Spirit took the lead near the quarter pole reached in 1:11.60 but could not hold off the late charge from Johannes.
“Johannes won with minimum effort, and we got the job done,” Rispoli said.
For Johannes, this signified an important bounce-back victory. On Aug. 2 at Saratoga, Johannes made his first start since last year’s Breeders’ Cup in the GI Fourstardave at a mile on turf. The 5-year-old horse by Nyquist was rank early and never a factor, finishing ninth in a 10-horse field.
Now it is on to the Breeders’ Cup.
“Five weeks is great timing,” Yakteen said. “We’ll do a couple of maintenance drills and one other work, and we’ll be ready to go. This horse is a trainer’s dream.”
Johannes, who upped his bankroll to $1,278,359, paid $2.40, $2.10 and $2.10. Cabo Spirit, trained by George Papaprodromou, returned $3.20 and $2.80. Almendares, ridden by Antonio Fresu for trainer Phil D’Amato, paid $2.10.
UMBERTO RISPOLI, Winning Jockey: “The pace was slow, but I didn’t want to take any chances to go on the inside. The speed map for me today was different. Mike (Smith, Cabo Spirit) is a smart rider and I wanted to sit behind Cabo… I had to decide what to do based on what the guy in front is doing. Johannes won with minimum effort, and we got the job done.”
TIM YAKTEEN, Winning Trainer: “The horse got a little aggressive with Umberto because he slowed up, but he was waiting for Mike (Smith) to make his move and then we made our move.
“The horse didn’t look exhausted in the Winner’s Circle. He wasn’t blowing and he’s got the flow going. Five weeks is great timing. We’ll do a couple of maintenance drills and one other work, and we’ll be ready to go. This horse is a trainer’s dream. He makes the whole team look good. I thought they were going fast enough in the first quarter. Once the field started to spread out, we started to pick it up on the back side. I was just hoping they would come back to me. I thought about going inside but knew he would have a good turn of foot, so we went around them, and he got there. This horse is a really good horse, and he has a special place with me because we won my 56th graded stakes with him.”
JOE MCCLOSKEY, Winning Owner: “We couldn’t ask for anything more from him. I mean eight for eight, it’s huge. In Saratoga, the people that saw that race, saw that we got mugged coming right out of the gate by the Ortiz brothers. But all is forgiven now that we have won this race. We look forward now to going to the Breeders’ Cup and this stage in the game, he is doing what he needs to be doing.
“Umberto said he was a little bit rank on the backstretch, which he tends to be. I think it has really educated him a lot to kind of get back to his regular form. So, I think even though the Saratoga race was a prep race, it wasn’t really, this was the race. I think he learned a lot from this, and he will settle himself down.”
