Libertango storms to the front to take the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Courtney Snow/ Past The Wire
Breeders’ Cup Press
LEXINGTON, Ken. – V. I Araci’s Libertango (IRE) ($5.74) lived up to her 9/5 post time favoritism with a brave victory under Billy Loughnane to storm past Harper’s Corner in deep stretch and score by 1 1/4 lengths in the 9th running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) Friday at Keeneland Race Course.
Trained by George Boughey, Libertango was initially slated to be ridden by Flavien Prat, but her regular rider Loughnane was able to climb aboard at the 11th hour after cutting enough pounds to make the assigned weight of 119 pounds.
The daughter of No Nay Never took an inside path after breaking from post 3 in the 12-horse field, settled in mid-pack early and ran up on heels entering the turn as Loughnane had a snug hold. She spun two paths off the rail exiting the turn and angled even wider as the pacesetter Ruiva was still the one to catch at the top of the stretch.
Harper’s Corner got the jump on Libertango inside the final sixteenth with Hell of A Spin throwing his hat in the ring, but Libertango proved superior in the last jumps to edge clear to victory under a celebrating Loughnane. The final time for 5 1/2 furlongs over the firm turf was 1:02.64.
Hell of A Spin claimed place honors by a head over Harper’s Corner, with 1 length back to Mussab in fourth. An objection lodged by David Egan – rider of Force Noir (IRE) (No. 8), and a stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run resulted in the disqualification of Harper’s Corner from third to eighth, moving Mussab into third and Final Objective into fourth.
Boughey, who won his first Breeders’ Cup event, was thrilled to see his filly prove her class on the world stage.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “For me, it’s huge. It’s the pinnacle for us, traveling the horses around the world to win a Breeders’ Cup is right at the top of it. You saw her there—she makes it easy.”
The conditioner said he was pleased to have Loughnane climb aboard as he did in each of Libertango’s five previous outings, including group stakes wins in the Albany Stakes (G3) in June at Royal Ascot and the Lowther Stakes (G2) two starts back in August at York.
“Awesome ride. I do feel a little bit sorry for Flavien, (but) it’s a game of weights and measures and Billy is my stable rider,” Boughey said. “It was a question that I asked the owner and he wanted the consistency. He gave her a beautiful ride, he obviously knows her and she showed a blistering turn of foot.”
Libertango was bred in Ireland by Lynch Bages and Camas Park Stud. She is by No Nay Never and is out of the Oasis Dream (GB) mare Ein Gedi (IRE). The victory was worth $520,000 and brought her record to 6-4-2-1.
Race Quotes:
Winning trainer George Boughey (Libertango): “It feels amazing. For me, it’s huge. It’s the pinnacle for us, traveling the horses around the world to win a Breeders’ Cup is right at the top of it. You saw here there—she makes it easy.
(First BC win) “It’s amazing. It’s the pinnacle for us traveling horses around the world to win a Breeders’ Cup, it’s right at the top of it.
(On Billy’s ride) “Awesome ride. I do feel a little bit sorry for Flavien (Prat, who was originally named on the horse), but it’s a game of weights and measures and Billy is my stable rider. It was a question that I asked the owner and he wanted the consistency. He gave her a beautiful ride, he obviously knows her and she showed a blistering turn of foot.
“She makes my job very easy. It was probably the most relaxed I’ve been going into a Group 1 ever. She shipped over here great, the guys on the ground here have done a super job and you can’t do it without the people who put the team together. I’m delighted.”
Second-place trainer Adrian Keatley (Hell Of A Spin): “He ran an unbelievable race. Without winning we couldn’t have wished for anything more. He’s a real proper horse going into next year and he looks like a Commonwealth Cup horse at Royal Ascot where he won’t have to take on Libertango. We’re absolutely delighted with him so hopefully we get him home safe and sound and we’ve a serious horse to look forward next year. Mikey Sheehy gave him an unbelievable ride and showed the world how good a jockey he is as well. The horse is always a big price and he always punches well above his weight so I’m sure a lot more people will take note of him. It’s been a big team effort getting him here and we’ll enjoy tonight.”
Second-place jockey: Mikey Sheehy (Hell of a Spin): “I always thought he was the type of horse that was made for America and he proved that today. The filly is really good. She’s based in the UK and I know her and she’s very good.
“Going around bend, he was moving well and thought I was in a great position but we were just beaten by a great filly.
Trainer Cal Lynch (Harper’s Corner, DQ’d from third): “I thought the filly ran great.”
(On the objection): “Paco was clear, I thought he was clear, Paco thought he was clear. The winner was special with the trip she had, it was insane. Absolutely brilliant ride, brilliant race.”
Jockey Paco Lopez (Harper’s Corner, DQ’d from third): “It was a perfect trip. Everyone is trying to claim foul all the time… but I don’t think anything happened. I had the speed. I was second. Perfect trip. I waited… she ran very well, my filly.”
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