Unquestionable and Ryan Moore capture the Juvenile Turf (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Breeders’ Cup Press Release
ARCADIA, Calif.— Al Shaqab Racing, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor et al’s favored Unquestionable (FR) ($5) surged past My Boy Prince at the eighth pole and held off stablemate Mountain Bear (IRE) by 1 ½ lengths to win the 17th running of the $1 million Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) for 2-year-olds to wrap up Future Stars Friday on the first day of the 40th World Championships at Santa Anita.
Trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, Unquestionable covered the mile on a firm turf course in 1:33.65. For O’Brien, it is his 17th World Championships victory and the 13th for Moore. The trainer-jockey combination now has won this race six times with other victories coming with Wrote (IRE) (2011), George Vancouver (2012), Hit It a Bomb (2015), Mendelssohn (2017) and Victoria Road (IRE) (2022).
Air Recruit set the pace from the inside while being tracked by My Boy Prince with Unquestionable getting a ground-saving trip behind the top two. Leadership went unchanged to the top of the stretch where Moore swung Unquestionable off the rail and into the three path for clear running.
Unquestionable hit the front at the eighth pole, opened a daylight margin and had more than enough to hold off Mountain Bear, who finished a head in front of My Boy Prince.
The victory was worth $520,000 and increased Unquestionable’s earnings to $671,394 with a record of 6-2-2-1. Unquestionable is a son of Wootton Bassett (GB) out of the Sea The Stars (IRE) mare Strawberry Lace (GB).
Stakes Quotes:
Winning trainer Aidan O’Brien, Unquestionable (FR) – “He’s a very tough horse who we’ve always had a lot of faith in. Ryan (Moore) gave him an unbelievable ride in a great position from an early stage from a tough draw. He won very well in the end and I’m delighted. He did everything right in the preparations going into the race so for him to go and win is brilliant.”
Second-place jockey Dylan McMonagle, Mountain Bear (IRE) – “Unbelievable run. I was just taking my time and having him coming home. He finished off really well and ran a great race to get to where he was from that position. I’m very happy. I saw Ryan ahead of me (on Unquestionable), but he was long gone. He was a good winner.”
Third- and fourth-place trainer Mark Casse, My Boy Prince and Can Group – “I think we just got beat for second. I am proud of both of my horses, they ran well. I was a little surprised to see (jockey Luis) Saez (on Air Recruit) up on the lead. I thought we (My Boy Prince) would be on the lead. Joel (Rosario) said he was running great; we just got run down. My other horse ran good, too. Flavien (Prat) said, ‘please let me ride him back.’ He just needs more ground. Look, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The only thing you can ask for is for them to show up and have the opportunity to get a good trip. How can I be disappointed in either horse? It’s not easy to beat those guys from over there (Europe).”
Third-place jockey Joel Rosario, My Boy Prince – “It looked like I was going to (be able) to make the lead early, but they sent the 1 (Air Recruit) out early. I just had to sit in second. He did everything right. He still ran good. Turning for home, I thought was going to make a run, but the closing horses were fresher but it was a good race for my horse.”
