Lord Bullingdon sweeps past his rivals in the Qatar Golden Mile (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Mike Willman/Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— Winless through three starts, trainer Michael McCarthy’s Lord Bullingdon stumbled leaving the gate and was relegated to last early in Friday’s $150,000 Qatar Golden Mile and that turned out to be a very good thing.
With Bob Baffert’s Ultra Power and Doug O’ Neill’s Ace of Clubs ensuring a fast pace, Umberto Rispoli bided his time to the far turn, swung six-deep turn for home and blew by favored Go With Gusto with a furlong to run en route to an emphatic 3 ¾ length win as the first race on Breeders’ Cup Day One at Santa Anita got off to a spectacular start under sunny skies and idyllic conditions.
A 2-year-old colt by top sprinter Lord Nelson, Lord Bullingdon got one mile on turf in 1:34.85.
An even fifth at the same trip versus maidens on Oct. 7, Lord Bullingdon was off at 6-1 in a field of six sophomores and paid $15.60, $6.00 and $3.40.
Owned by Colbart Stables and Michael McCarthy Racing Stable, Inc., Lord Bullingdon, who is out of the Leroidesanimaux mare Ms Silver Oak, picked up $90,000 for the win, increasing his earnings to $120,220.
Ridden by Joel Rosario, Go With Gusto, off at 9-5, finished a neck better than Mo Fox Givin and paid $3.20 and $2.20.
Off at 9-2 with Flavien Prat, Mo Fox Givin finished a neck in front of longshot Uncharted and paid $2.80 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.60, 45.80, 1:10.35 and 1:22.89.
$150,000 QATAR GOLDEN MILE
JOCKEY QUOTES
UMBERTO RISPOLI, LORD BULLINGDON, WINNER: “I’ve been working him and I really believed in him. I thought he would do really well at a distance. Michael (McCarthy) has done a great job with him. When we finished second to Prince of Monaco in his first race, I thought we had something here. They went really fast ahead of me. think the horse really liked the turf today, once we got outside, he took off and away we went.”
TRAINER QUOTES
MICHAEL McCARTHY, LORD BULLINGDON, WINNER: From off the pace, they go awfully quick for the opening half mile. They were bunched up at the top of the stretch, Umberto was able to get him to the outside, got a clear path and a clear run, horse leveled off and got the job done. Nice way to break your maiden on a good day.”
NOTES: The winning owners are Colbart Stables and Michael McCarthy Racing.
