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Magician produces late trick from his sleeve in Turf
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| Magician (left) got up in time to deny The Fugue in his first attempt at the trip
(Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com) |
Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Mrs. John Magnier's Magician pulled the
proverbial rabbit out of the hat, as it were, when coming with a barnstorming
late run to inflict another heartbreak on 3-2 favorite The Fugue in Saturday's
Grade 1, $2,760,000
Breeders'
Cup Turf at Santa Anita. The Galileo colt was making his first start off a
four-month layoff, and trying 1 1/2 miles for the first time. But the 12-1
chance rose to the occasion, thanks to a superb training performance by Aidan
O'Brien, and a perfectly-timed ride by Ryan Moore.
The Fugue was suffering an agonizing loss for the second straight Breeders'
Cup. She didn't have a chance to employ her trademark turn of foot in last
year's Filly & Mare Turf, where she was mired on the fence en route to a
frustrating third. This time, the English filly appeared to have made the
winning move at the top of the stretch, only to have her victory disappear at
the hands of Magician. With Ireland and England finishing one-two, the result was emblematic of the European domination
in these events.
The winner of both the May 10 Dee Stakes at about 1 5/16 miles around
Chester's notoriously tight circuit, and the May 25 Irish Two Thousand Guineas
on the cutback to a mile, Magician had not been seen since trailing in the June
18 St James's Palace at Royal Ascot. He had met with a setback prior to that
flop, but was primed for his ambitious comeback in this spot.
When the gate opened, Teaks North strode forward to set the pace through
splits of :24, :46 4/5, 1:10 3/5 and 1:35 1/5. Defending champion Little Mike
tracked in second, but The Fugue was reserved well back in the strung-out field,
and Magician was held up near the rear. The Fugue began to improve her position
steadily down the backstretch, until she was hovering ominously in third
entering the far turn.
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Little Mike was the first to commit and struck the front rounding the final
turn, but The Fugue and Vagabond Shoes went in hot pursuit. The Fugue soon
asserted herself and began to pull away, as though leaving her bad memories
behind. Although comebacker Point of Entry and Indy Point rallied, they were not
troubling The Fugue.
Then Magician suddenly appeared on the stage, and The Fugue was powerless to
resist. Magician nailed her in a final time of 2:23 1/5 on the firm turf and
sparked a $27 win mutuel.
"He's one of the best horses I've ridden in a long time," Moore said. "He
switched off nice at the beginning. I was a little farther back than I wanted to
be because he got a bump at the turn and he lost his back end, but he leveled
off nicely, got his balance. From there he took me where I wanted to be."
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| Magician, who met with a setback himself in June, stepped up to the plate after St Nicholas Abbey and Camelot suffered injuries
(Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) |
"It's been a job well done by the team to achieve this," O'Brien said. "I
have to thank Michael (Tabor) whose idea it was that we should move him up in
trip to a mile and a half."The Fugue's team was gracious in defeat.
"She's run a great race," trainer John Gosden said. "We came a bit wide into
the straight. We've beaten a very good Argentinean horse (Indy Point), but the
form is very hard to assess as the winner (Magician) hasn't run since June. He's
a bit of a joker in the pack (deck). She ran her race. She improved her
position. She just got beat at the end."
"She did nothing wrong," jockey William Buick said. "She did everything
right. She felt good to me. She ran well."
Indy Point bested Point of Entry by a half-length for third. Point of Entry
had not raced since exiting his June 8 Manhattan win with a condylar fracture.
"It was just too much ground to make up, especially coming off a layoff,"
Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said of Point of Entry.
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Vagabond Shoes outperformed his 27-1 odds in fifth. Next came Twilight
Eclipse, Little Mike, Big Blue Kitten, Real Solution, Skyring, Teaks North and
the tailed-off Tale of a Champion.
Magician's scorecard now stands at 8-4-1-0, $1,948,308. The dark bay won only
one of four starts as a juvenile, romping by six lengths in a Curragh maiden on
heavy ground. He came back 13 days later for the Killavullan at Leopardstown,
where he was hampered and dropped back to last. Magician has been a revelation
at three. After his dynamic Dee and Irish Guineas, he entered calculations for
the Derby at Epsom. Connections opted not to wheel him back on short rest for
the 1 1/2-mile classic, but he certainly proved his aptitude for the trip at
Santa Anita.
In so doing, Magician ended up being a terrific pinch-hitter for Ballydoyle,
following the retirements of St Nicholas Abbey and Camelot. St Nicholas Abbey,
the 2011 Turf winner who was third last year, sustained a serious injury in July
and is currently battling laminitis. Camelot was expected to represent Coolmore
until he too suffered an injury in October, prompting his retirement to stud.
Magician was bred by the Absolutelyfabulous Syndicate in Ireland, a name
reflective of his dam, the stakes-winning and Group 3-placed sprinter
Absolutelyfabulous. The Mozart mare descends from the same family as Irish
highweights Listen and Sequoyah, the latter the dam of Irish highweight
Henrythenavigator, who finished second in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Classic at
Santa Anita. Sequoyah also produced Group 3 heroine and dual classic-placed
Queen Cleopatra, a full sister to Henrythenavigator.
Click
here for the transcript with Magician's connections.
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