SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2015 FITTING FINALE FOR PHAROAH LOOK FORWARD, NOT BACK, TO DEFINE In what proved little more than a final victory lap, Zayat PHAROAH’S LEGACY by T.D. Thornton Stable’s Triple Crown hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the In the 37-year gap between Triple Crown winners, something Nile) wrapped up his career on the track the easiest of shifted in the sport’s narrative. The longer racing went without GI Breeders’ Cup Classic an identifiable, iconic champion who captured the hearts and winners, galloping home riveted the attention of a nation, the deeper the yearning got to score by a record- for a horse of a generation to come along and hit the magic tying 6 1/2 lengths in “reset button” that would re-establish the game not merely as 2:00.07. Longshot the “Sport of Kings,” but as the Effinex (Mineshaft) king of sports. traveled in second from At times, that narrative start to finish, while seemed a bit forced, even desperate. If you work ‘TDN Rising Star’ Honor hands-on with Thoroughbreds Code (A.P. Indy) rallied or ply your trade in any other powerfully to fill out the American Pharoah | Keeneland/Coady aspect of the racing industry, trifecta. “I am so proud you realize that the notion that of this horse, but I am so relieved,” offered Hall of Fame trainer a single horse can “save the American Pharoah | Horsephotos Bob Baffert. “After his last race [when second in the GI Travers sport” is not grounded in S.] I got so down on myself. When he’s right, he’s right and you reality. It’s also folly to keep wishing for a return to the “glory saw what he can do today. It has been a privilege to train this days,” because even though our sport is deeply rooted in horse. It’s tough to win a Breeders’ Cup; you'd better come with tradition, a constant yearning for the way things used to be does a good horse. I am so proud of him. This is the greatest horse I’ll nothing but inhibit growth and obstruct racing’s progress. ever see. He is a champion. I am so glad that American Pharoah Earlier this year, racing got its long-awaited, larger-than-life goes out the champion he is. We're all going to miss him.” gift horse in the form of a Triple Crown champion. In Saturday’s American Pharoah will now head down the road from GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) Keeneland to Coolmore’s Ashford Stud for the 2016 breeding outsprinted a solid group of older rivals straight from the gate and never looked back en route to a 6 1/2-length victory and a season. Cont. p4 permanent spot among the game’s all-time greats. Cont. p3 FASIG-TIPTON NOVEMBER SALE SUNDAY by Jessica Martini In the afterglow of Lexington’s first-ever Breeders’ Cup weekend, the Fasig-Tipton November Sale gets underway Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. and features a sparkling catalogue of 200 weanlings, racing, broodmare and stallion prospects. “We’ve got a great group of horses assembled for the sale and at the end of the day, that’s the only ingredient that really matters,” commented Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “To have a great sale in the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds | F-T photo world we live in--we’re dealing with professionals--you’ve got to have great horses and we’ve got a spectacular collections of horses that will be on the grounds.” Cont. p27 Brilliant 3yo colt RUNHAPPY put an exclamation point on a championship season Saturday, setting a NEW TRACK RECORD en route to 1:08.58 winning the $1,500,000 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) at Keeneland. [WATCH THIS SUPER PERFORMANCE] Owner: James McIngvale Breeder: Wayne, Gray, & Bryan Lyster Trainer: Maria Borell Jockey: Edgar Prado www.WinStarFarm.com Office: (859) 873-1717 | Kyle Wilson: (859) 699-8589 Caroline Walsh: (859) 537-2527 | Sean Tugel: (859) 940-0456 BAYERN Breeders’ Cup Classic Champion 2016 FEE: $15,000 LIVE FOAL SIRE POWER ON RACING’S GREATEST DAY, IN AMERICA’S RICHEST RACE, CONTESTED AT THE AMERICAN CLASSIC DISTANCE OF 1 1/4 MILES, BAYERN JOINS SUPERSTAR SIRES UNBRIDLED, A.P. INDY, SUNDAY SILENCE, TIZNOW AND CURLIN, TO HAVE WON THE BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC AS A THREE YEAR OLD. 640 N. Yarnallton Pike, Lexington, KY 40511 (859) 255-8290 • fax (859) 281-6148 www.hillndalefarms.com PLAY VIDEO BAYERN Breeders’ Cup Classic Champion CupClassic Breeders’ 2016 F2016 L$15,000 EE : IVE F OAL Career Earnings Career $4,454,930 Nyquist (Uncle Mo) captured his third Grade I win in the GI PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord Sentient Jets Breeders’ Cup [email protected] Juvenile at Keeneland Saturday. His record stands at a perfect SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Finley @suefinley five-for-five for owner J. Paul [email protected] Reddam of Reddam Racing and trainer Doug O’Neill. V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN Horsephotos [email protected] Story page 16 EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief: Jessica Martini Managing Editor: Alan Carasso Senior Editor: Steve Sherack FOUND SHOCKS ‘HORN’ IN TURF 7 Racing Editor: Brian DiDonato The Aidan O’Brien-trained Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), runner-up behind Anthony Associate Editor: Justina Severni Oppenheimer’s G1 Epsom Derby hero Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) in the G1 Irish Associate Editor: Christie DeBernardis Champion S. earlier in the season, got her revenge in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf Assistant Editor: Heather Anderson Assistant Editor: Ben Massam at Keeneland for Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith. Found was returning from a second-place effort in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. at Ascot Oct. 17. ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising: Alycia Borer SONGBIRD FLYS TO JUVENILE FILLIES SCORE 14 Art Director: Lia Kusch Sr. Ad Coordinator/Dir. of Distribution: ‘TDN Rising Star’ Songbird (Medaglia d’Oro) landed the GI 14 Hands Winery Breeders’ Sarah K. Andrew Cup Juvenile Fillies in frontrunning fashion for Fox Hill Farms and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer Advertising Designer: Amanda Crelin at Keeneland, defeating fellow ‘Rising Star’ Rachel’s Valentina (Bernardini) in the Advertising Assistant: Amanda Foster process.Her time for the 1 1/16 miles was :01.06 faster than the time for the GI Sentient Social Media Strategist: Nichola Henry Jets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile won by Nyquist (Uncle Mo) later on the card. CUSTOMER SERVICE [email protected] Director of Customer Service: Vicki Forbes INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EST Race Click for TV Director of IT: Robert Williams [email protected] 2:40a Tenno Sho (Autumn)-G1, TOK -------------------- ----- 7:55a Criterium International-G1, SAI -------------------- ----- Director of Internal IT: Ray Villa 8:30a Criterium de Saint-Cloud-G1, SAI -------------------- ----- [email protected] 9:35a Pastorius-Grosser Preis von Bayern-G1, MUN -------------------- ----- WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 9:45a Prix de Flore-G3, SAI -------------------- ----- International Editor: Kelsey Riley 10:20a Prix Perth-G3, SAI -------------------- ----- [email protected] 10:45a Goldikova S.-GII, DMR (TJCIS.com PPs) TVG Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing: Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.thoroughbreddailynews.com www.thetdn.com HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 41 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • NOV. 1, 2015 Thornton cont. from p1 All of this Pharoah-related good will was captured and There were many feel-good moments along the way, and the repeated exponentially throughout the year via social media, storybook ending for American Pharoah’s final race came off which marks another remarkable shift in how racing has largely as anticipated, with the sun setting on Keeneland Race embraced fan outreach and new ways to market the game. You Course while emotional jockey Victor Espinoza patiently paraded hear the oft-repeated lament that traditional media coverage is the people’s horse before an adoring crowd. dying. But in reality, it’s just changing. And racing, at least in this “This is all for American Pharoah. We are so indebted,” said Ahmed Zayat, the colt’s principal owner, who races as Zayat respect, seems ahead of the curve compared to other sports. Stables, LLC. “We owe him the whole world. America, my family The most notable change brought about by American and everybody--what a horse.” Pharoah’s scintillating win Saturday might be the introduction of Now it’s up to the sport’s stakeholders to keep the momentum the brand new phrase that was coined to sum up his on-track going. brilliance: he became the sport’s first-ever “Grand Slam” winner, Instead of looking back, racing’s long-term health will benefit if as the opportunity to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic did not exist American Pharoah’s legacy is viewed in terms of what his for any of the previous champions who swept the GI Kentucky remarkable run of 2015 will do for the game going forward, and Derby, GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. prior to 1984. how it might shape the sport for years to come. And hours before American Pharoah earned that distinction, For starters, remember the fear in recent years that accompanied the prospect of other horses on the verge of Saturday’s pair of Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds opened winning the Triple Crown--that the economics of the industry the tantalizing possibility that the sport might be in for another would force a Triple Crown winner’s immediate retirement to wild ride toward a potential Grand Slam champ next year: the breeding shed? That didn’t happen with American Pharoah, GI Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist (Uncle largely because Team Zayat felt a deep obligation to the public Mo) and GI 14 Hands Winery Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to keep the star colt in training.