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Kip Deville is the second Oklahoma-bred to capture a Breeders' Cup race, following Lady's Secret in the 1986 Distaff
(Alex Evers/Horsephotos.com) |
Breeders' Cup week didn't begin so well for KIP DEVILLE (Kipling), when his
final work was postponed for one day because of a slight filling in his pastern,
but it ended in a blaze of glory with a convincing one-length tally in Saturday's
$2,409,080
Breeders'
Cup Mile (G1). Not only did the Richard Dutrow charge handsomely recoup his
supplemental fee, but he has now tossed his name into Eclipse Award
consideration.After tracking the early pace along the rail, Cornelio
Velasquez angled the gray out to split rivals entering the stretch,
mowed down the longtime leader Cosmonaut (Lemon Drop Kid) and
comfortably held the late rally of 2-1 favorite Excellent Art (GB)
(Pivotal). The four-year-old reeled off the mile on Monmouth's soft turf in 1:39 3/5 to pay $18.40, $7.20 and $5.20
at 8-1.
"He broke very fast, but I didn't want to go to the lead, so I covered him
up," Velasquez said. "At the quarter-pole, I had a lot of horse, and when I was
able to get clear, he took off. He absolutely loved (the soft going)."
"I couldn't be more excited," Dutrow enthused. "I knew he was doing very good
going into this race. My only concern was him liking the track. It looks like he
did. Cornelio gave him an unbelievable ride."
Excellent Art was reserved near the tail of the field and delivered a belated charge
through the stretch, but the wire came too quickly for the Irish raider. The
sophomore gave back $4.20 and $3 and concluded the $70.80 exacta. Cosmonaut, who
established fractions of :24 1/5, :49 2/5 and 1:14 3/5, just staved off Nobiz Like Shobiz
(Albert the Great) by a neck for
third-place honors. The 14-1 shot yielded $6.60 and rounded out the $376.90
trifecta ($1). The 8-13-7-9 superfecta ($1) was worth $1,750.30. Host (Chi) (Hussonet)
came from last to grab fifth, followed by Trippi's Storm (Trippi), Remarkable
News (Ven) (Chayim), Rebellion (GB) (Mozart [Ire]), Icy Atlantic (Stormy
Atlantic), Jeremy (Danehill Dancer), Purim (Dynaformer), Silent Name (Jpn)
(Sunday Silence) and My Typhoon (Ire) (Giant's Causeway). After Market (Storm
Cat) was scratched because of the rain-soaked ground.
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