Breeders Cup 2014: Texas Red Wins in Upset in Juvenile

ARCADIA, Calif. — Texas Red pulled a 13-1 upset in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup 
Juvenile on Saturday at Santa Anita Park.

Kent Desormeaux was aboard for his fifth Breeders’ Cup victory. His brother
 Keith Desormeaux, the trainer and a co-owner, got his first win in the championships.

Texas Red beat Carpe Diem, a 9-5 favorite, by 6 ½ lengths. The time was 1 minute
 41.91 seconds for 1 1/16 miles.

Upstart was a neck back in third.

Texas Red paid $29.80, $9.80 and $5.60. Carpe Diem returned $3.80 and $2.80, and
 Upstart paid $3.60 to show.

The Juvenile is the first major test for 2-year-olds on the road to next year’sKentucky
 Derby. Texas Red jumped into the picture with his first stakes victory, his second win in
 five starts.

The colt sold for a modest $17,000 at the yearling sale a year ago at Keeneland.

The Juvenile also weighs heavily in the Eclipse Award balloting for divisional champion,
 and the win might sway some voters.

With American Pharoah, the 2-1 favorite, sidelined because of a bruised foot,
 the trainer Todd Pletcher seemed to hold the strongest hand with the duo of Carpe Diem
 and Daredevil. Both were 2 for 2 and had won major stakes in their previous starts.

But it was Texas Red who stole the day with a bold run down the center of the track.

It was a return to the limelight for Kent Desormeaux, a Hall of Fame rider who almost
 missed the Breeders’ Cup after his ribs were fractured and one of his lungs
 partially collapsed after he was kicked by a horse in late September. Keith
 Desormeaux earned his 500th career win in August with Texas Red and his brother
 aboard at Del Mar.

Texas Red earned $1.1 million for the victory.

In the next race, Main Sequence repelled the late challenge of Flintshire to win the
 $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf by a half-length, giving an American horse the victory in
 a race usually dominated by Europeans.

Ridden by John Velazquez, Main Sequence ran 1 ½ miles in 2:24.91 and paid $14.40,
 $5.80 and $4.20 at 6-1 odds. The 5-year-old gelding is unbeaten in four starts since
 coming to the barn of the Maryland-based trainer Graham Motion.

The British-bred Flintshire, second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris last 
month, returned $4.80 and $3.60. Twilight Eclipse was another 1 ¼ lengths back in third
 and paid $6.40 to show. Telescope, the 8-5 favorite, finished fourth.

Take Charge Brandi won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, the first of
 Saturday’s nine races, by a half-length, pulling the upset at 61-1 odds for D. Wayne
 Lukas, a Hall of Fame trainer.

Bobby’s Kitten edged No Nay Never, a 7-2 favorite, by a half-length to win the $1 million
 Turf Sprint, giving the trainer Chad Brown his third Breeders’ Cup win of the weekend.

Ridden by Joel Rosario, Bobby’s Kitten ran 6 ½ furlongs on the course in 1:12.73 and
 paid $16.40, $8 and $6.20 at 7-1 odds.

Brown won the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf with Dayatthespa earlier Saturday at Santa
 Anita, and the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf with Lady Eli on Friday.

No Nay Never returned $6.60 and $4.80, edging Undrafted in a photo finish for second.

Undrafted, owned by Denver Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker, was another nose 
back in third and paid $7.60 to show.