Found returns triumphantly (Pic: Breeders’ Cup Ltd)
Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier’s 3-year-old filly Found, second to Golden Horn in the Gr1 QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes , turned the tables on the 3-year-old colt to take the Gr1 $3 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Saturday.
Ridden by Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O’Brien, Found rallied from well off the pace to win the 2000m race in 2:32.06 on turf rated good. Found, by Galileo out of the Intikhab mare Red Evie, was bred in Ireland by Roncon, Wynatt, and Chelston.
Golden Horn, winner of the Gr1 Investec Epsom Derby and the Gr1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe , got the jump on Found turning for home but couldn’t hold off the filly. Big Blue Kitten made a bold move to challenge the top two in the final eighth but couldn’t sustain the run.
Found defeated Golden Horn by a half-length. Big Blue Kitten finished another three-quarters of a length back. Slumber checked in fourth.
“It’s very special to beat a very good colt who has won everything in Europe this year, so it was a great performance,” Tabor said.
The early tempo in the Turf was set, not surprisingly, by Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Shining Copper, who has successfully served as a rabbit for stablemate Big Blue Kitten on two occasions: the United Nations Stakes and Turf Classic Invitational Stakes (both gr. IT). Shining Copper and jockey Luis Saez quickly established command and after one mile had a 20-length lead.
The early fractions were :24.56 for the opening 400m, :48.38 for 800m, and 1:12.64 for 1200m. Cage Fighter sat in second with Golden Horn third through most of the first mile as Found tracked in mid-pack.
Shining Copper began to back up soon after the 1600m call as Golden Horn, Found, and The Pizza Man picked him up on the far turn. Golden Horn emerged with the lead through 1 1/4 miles in 2:07.20, but Found never let him out of her sights. She gradually wore him down to get the victory.
Big Blue Kitten loomed the main danger in the stretch but couldn’t catch the top two. Slumber rallied mildly to pass The Pizza Man, who checked in fifth.
Found, who raced on furosemide, also called Lasix or Salix, for the first time in her first United States start, finished a sharp second to Fascinating Rock in the Gr1 QIPCO Champion Stakes in her previous start Oct. 17.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” O’Brien said. “She’s a very special mare. To run in two Champion Stakes and the Arc, and then to come here and win, is quite remarkable. She’s very special.”
“She is a very tough filly,” Moore said. “She beat a champion (in Golden Horn), and that is special, too.”
John Gosden, who trains Golden Horn, said he knew there were risks running Golden Horn on softer ground. “But take nothing away from the winner,” he said. “She’s a very good filly, and the best turf horse in America finished third. Our horse ran a terrific race on ground that didn’t suit him.”
Said Golden Horn’s owner Anthony Oppenheimer: “He has lost nothing in defeat.”
Found more than doubled her earnings to $2,867,857 in 11 starts.
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