Experience pays off, and that was the case Oct. 31 as Emphatic utilized her experience on the Keeneland main track to pull off a victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

That victory was extra rewarding for Brendan Walsh, who earned his first Breeder’s Cup triumph on his 14th attempt.

“It was nice to win one,” the 53-year-old Irish-born trainer said. “I don’t feel that it’s been a long time not to win one. ... Keeneland’s been very good to me. I’ve had a lot of luck here. It’s our home base, so it’s extra special to win one here for sure.”

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Keeneland proved to be a track that the Nyquist filly likes quite a bit after having previously taken the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades Stakes Oct. 2 in front-running fashion. That was not the way the trip shook out this time as Lexi’s Charm rushed off to take early command of the 12-horse field.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione, a longtime partner of Walsh’s, was content to race a few lengths back as quick quarter-mile fractions of :22.54 and :45.87 were posted. Emphatic cruised up easily at the three-eighths pole and then Gaffalione asked her to go.

With the short stretch to the Keeneland’s first finish line, Gaffalione’s decision to go when he did left the others far in his wake. Miss Monica, who had broken slowly and raced toward the rear of the field, was the only one giving chase after she finally weaved through traffic, but Emphatic’s lead was insurmountable.

Emphatic finished 1 ½ lengths clear of Miss Monica while Manuka Honey was another 8 ¼ lengths back in third. Emphatic paid $7.92 to win in a final time of 1:42.29 for 1 1/16 miles, only .02 slower than Hughes ran two races later in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by TAA.

Emphatic and Gaffalione Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (Eclipse Sportswire)

“I felt like a winner the entire race,” said Gaffalione, who earned his third Breeders’ Cup win and second in the Juvenile Fillies after winning with Wonder Wheel at Keeneland in 2022. “She broke alertly, put herself in the game early, and when I pushed the button, she really responded.

“I just let her run her race, acted like we were the only ones in there and she gave me confidence the entire race.”

Gaffalione and Walsh have teamed up for many top-level wins over the years, including the 2023 Kentucky Oaks with Pretty Mischievous, and it appears they have plenty more ahead of them.

“He’s a brilliant guy,” Walsh said of his rider. We have a great association we’ve had for quite a few years now. He’s so professional.

“I ask him and he’ll tell me what I’m thinking 99 times out of 100. I think that’s just a great way to have the relationship. Hopefully it lasts for many years to come.”

Another strong relationship is the one between co-owners Antony Beck of Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen. The pair have been partnering for 15 years and are having a terrific season, especially with their fillies given Luster won the King’s Plate Stakes against males for the partnership in the summer.

“We’ve been very lucky,” Beck said of the partnership. “Had a lot of good horses with not buying that many horses. Andrew is an amazing partner and a really good friend. We’ve won some nice big good races together. This is definitely number one.”

Fifth Straight Juvenile Turf Win Propels O’Brien to Breeders’ Cup Record

With a depleted squad caused by two veterinary scratches, trainer Aidan O’Brien held a less imposing hand than expected in the $1 million Brown Advisory Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. But it proved a winning hand all the same.

The legendary Irish trainer won his ninth Juvenile Turf and 23rd overall Breeders’ Cup race, pulling him one ahead of Hall of Famer Bob Baffert as the winningest trainer in Breeders’ Cup history, when a stalking Haffner pounced on the leaders and held off Folsom Blues by 1 ¾ lengths in the one-mile grass race for 2-year-olds. The victory gave O’Brien a fifth consecutive victory in the race.

Haffner prevails in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (Eclipse Sportswire)

Even Ryan Moore, his primary rider, got in on the action, replacing Christophe Soumillon after he became available when his mount, Great Barrier Reef, was pulled from competition. Man’s Best Friend was O’Brien’s other scratch. His other horse, Florida Bay, finished next to last.

Moore delivered his usual masterful ride from a good draw in post position 3, drafting in behind horses, a couple lengths behind a brisk early pace, before angling out in the stretch to launch his bid. The Justify colt, who races for owners Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Brooke Smith, and other partners, did the rest, pulling clear through the lane to finish a mile on firm turf in 1:35.19. He paid $9.46 for a $2 win wager

Folsom Blues, trained by one of O’Brien’s sons, Joseph, nosed out Avec Toi for the place. The latter, who set quarter-mile fractions of :23.02, :46.80, and 1:11.05, lasted for the show — giving European-trained horses a 1-2-3 finish. Oscar, trained by Miguel Clement, was the top-performing American, finishing fourth.

The Juvenile marked the second time one of Joseph’s horses finished second to a horse trained by his father in a Breeders’ Cup race Friday. Aidan O’Brien’s Sun Goddess defeated Green Empress earlier in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, with Moore also piloting that winner.

Father and son watched the Juvenile Turf together from Keeneland’s grandstand apron and hugged shortly after the finish. Their profession requires competition regardless of personal ties.

“We hate beating Joseph and his lads, and I mean that,” O’Brien said. “But, obviously, it’s business and it’s sport. We always do our very best, and we don’t give them an inch in any way.”

He also acknowledged the benefits of training high-class stock for the highly successful Coolmore team and its partners, plus the advantage of having Moore in the saddle.—Byron King

Special Filly Sun Goddess Strikes in Juvenile Fillies Turf

A 3,700-mile trip to make the race, an added furlong for her race, and seeing turns for the first time proved no problem for Sun Goddess, who added a clear victory in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf to complete one of the greatest juvenile seasons of the 21st century.

The victory is the fourth Group 1 or Grade 1 score for Sun Goddess, who also extended her win streak to six races over three countries. She is campaigned by the Coolmore-affiliated owners Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Westerberg, and trained by Aidan O’Brien.

Sun Goddess dominates Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Eclipse Sportswire)

“It’s a life-changing experience for a lot of people when fillies like this come along,” said Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier. “It’s special for everyone. We’re just very lucky to have a group of lads and ladies that want to buy these horses and have them in training with Aidan and everything. It’s a fantastic result.”

That outcome Friday proved something to see on a perfect fall day in Lexington. With Ryan Moore asking for a bit more than usual early in the race, Sun Goddess raced just behind front-running Seneca Park, who entered off a runner-up finish in the Jessamine Stakes earlier this month at Keeneland. After Seneca Park completed six furlongs in 1:13.29, Moore asked Sun Goddess for her best and she delivered, seizing control of the 1-mile race in a seemingly effortless move.

The daughter of Sioux Nation opened up 2 ½ lengths on the field in midstretch and a late run from recent Prix Marcel Boussac-Criterium des Pouliches winner Green Empress did not seriously threaten the winner, who registered a three-length victory while completing the race in 1:36.10 on firm turf. Group 3 winner Curracloe earned her first Grade 1 placing by rallying for third in a race that saw European-trained runners land the top seven spots.

Jockey Dylan McMonagle, who was aboard Green Empress, said he likely should have placed his runner closer to the pace as the field completed a half-mile in :48.83. She raced in sixth through the first half of the race.

“It was a slow time,” McMonagle said. “I was probably one spot too far back, but had to just deal with it. She’s came home good and she’s ran a cracker.”

Favored Sun Goddess paid $3.70, $2.88, and $2.42 across the board, while Green Empress, send off at 12-1, returned $7 and $5.28 to place and show, respectively.

Sun Goddess’ previous longest race had been seven furlongs, a win in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes in September, and all of her previous races had been straight sprints.

“Going up to a mile here, she was very comfortable,” said Moore, adding that the slow early pace dictated her early running position in second. “They felt way slower than what we would do normally on a Breeders’ Cup mile race here.”

As if Sun Goddess needed any additional indication of her class ahead of Friday’s race, Libertango captured the day’s opening Breeders’ Cup race, the Juvenile Turf Sprint. In Sun Goddess’s previous race, she defeated that one by a length in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes Sept. 26 at Newmarket.

O’Brien said Sun Goddess has been a natural and it hasn’t mattered if the race is six furlongs, seven furlongs, or a mile. Not only does she bring the class on the course, she carries it every moment of the day. In the days leading up to the Breeders’ Cup, O’Brien said she doesn’t walk, “she prowls.”

“She is unusual. And her movement is very unusual when you see the way she walks and trots and canters and does everything,” O’Brien said. “As a physical specimen, she is very different.”—Frank Angst

Libertango All Class in Juvenile Turf Sprint Win

They came over nose to tail, innocent as lambs, oblivious of the adventure in store, numbering eight fillies, three colts, and a lonely gelding. Most of them were strangers in a strange land, although nothing would be quite so bizarre as the task ahead: a breathless 5 1/2 furlongs on firm Kentucky ground interrupted halfway through by a 180-degree switchback guaranteed to test their competitive resolve. Plus, Paco Lopez.

As usual, the running of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint provided plenty of thrills — and thankfully no spills — to kick off the two-day festival. As it turned out, though, the real drama took place earlier in the Keeneland jockeys’ room, where British champion and bona fide phenom Billy Loughnane was desperately sweating off the last few ounces to make the prescribed 119 pounds in order to ride the filly Libertango.

Libertango wins Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (Eclipse Sportswire)

Flavien Prat was waiting in the wings for trainer George Boughey, ready to step in aboard Libertango if Loughnane had to bow out. But he made it, much to the delight of his legion of fans back home and his expat followers in the local crowd, and Libertango, a nimble daughter of No Nay Never, responded with a display of class and balletic dexterity to seize the race in the final sixteenth of a mile to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:02.64.

The Irish filly Velozee stood dazed when the gates opened and let the others scoot away, none faster than the globe-trotting Ruiva. Juan Hernandez tried to ration her speed as best he could, and the chestnut took the field into the far turn with an opening quarter of :21.49. By then, however, the pack was closing in, led by Lopez on Harper’s Corner, winner of the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Only problem was, Lopez, he of the multiple riding suspensions, had come over on Oisin Murphy and his filly Moonrise, so badly that she stumbled enough to cause the trailing Libertango and others to take up.

“It was a very bad bit of riding by Paco,” Murphy said. “Not what you’d expect to see at this level.”

The stewards agreed. Harper’s Corner went on to take a brief lead in the stretch, only to be caught by both Libertango and the 50-1 Hell of A Spin. Lopez and his filly were disqualified and placed eighth, behind the offended Moonrise.

As for Loughnane, he had nothing but praise for his filly and made sure everyone knew it. Returning to the winner’s circle, the 20-year-old rider encouraged the crowd to a wave of cheers, then later reflected on what it meant to be able to retain the ride on such a special day.

“She had a good gate, and I wanted to get on the back of Moonrise, thinking she’d carry me into the race,” Loughnane said. “It got tight there on Oisin — I didn’t see exactly what happened — but it broke the race up a little and I lost about a length. But then she cornered fantastically, which I had every faith she would, and went on with it in the straight.”—Jay Hovdey