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Intercontinental follows in families hoofsteps
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Intercontinental duplicated her sister Banks Hill with a Breeders' Cup win
(Michael J. Marten/Horsephotos.com) |
Juddmonte Farms' homebred INTERCONTINENTAL (GB) (Danehill) took the lead from
the gate of Saturday's $972,020
Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) to set splits of :24, :48 4/5, 1:13 3/5
and 1:38 and was never headed en route to a 1 1/4-length victory. Giving Rafael
Bejarano his first Breeders' Cup winner, the five-year-old mare finished 1 1/4
miles on the good turf in 2:02 1/5."I feel really, really happy," Bejarano said. "I want to thank everyone for
this great opportunity. The horse broke good, but she wasn't going as fast as
she has. I tried to take hold and stay comfortable. At the quarter pole, I could
feel the other horses coming, but I knew she could hold on."
Intercontinental finally found a position in which she liked to run, settling
down in front as Wend (Pulpit) chased throughout. Coming into the stretch, she
found a new challenger in Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross [Ire]), last year's Filly
& Mare Turf winner, to her outside but easily held that one as she pulled off
the win for trainer Bobby Frankel.
"I was a little nervous after she broke and she broke good," Frankel said. "I
mentioned to (Bejarano), don't worry about making the lead the first few jumps.
Let her ease the lead on her own. She'll take you there. I felt comfortable five
jumps to the wire, then I felt real good."
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Intercontinental was not given much chance by handicappers, sent off at 15-1,
but rewarded her backers with payouts of $32.20, $13 and $8.40. Ouija Board just
missed repeating but still gave back $5.90 and $4.30 as the 2-1 favorite while
ending the $131.50 exacta. Film Maker (Dynaformer), second in last year's Filly
& Mare Turf, was just a neck back in third and returned $6.40 at 9-1. The
trifecta was worth $1,167 and the 10-13-2-7 superfecta paid $5,004 with Wonder
Again (Silver Hawk) coming in fourth.
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Intercontinental was unbeatable in the Filly & Mare Turf
(Uli Seit/Horsephotos.com) |
Favourable Terms (GB) (Selkirk [GB]), Wend, Angara (GB) (Alzao), Megahertz (GB)
(Pivotal), Karen's Caper (War Chant), Mona Lisa (GB) (Giant's Causeway), Luas
Line (Ire) (Danehill), Flip Flop (Fr) (Zieten), Riskaverse (Dynaformer) and
Sundrop (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) followed the top four under the wire. Sundrop was
vanned off after the finish, but, according to a report from Dr. C. Wayne
McIlwraith of the AAEP, she was just leg weary and had no apparent injuries.
Bred in Great Britain, Intercontinental is out of the very nice broodmare
Hasili (Kahyasi), who has already produced a previous Filly & Mare Turf winner
in champion turf mare Banks Hill (GB), a full sister to Saturday's victress.
Hasili is also the dam of highweight and Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) third-place
finisher Dansili (GB) (Danehill), multiple Grade 1 queen Heat Haze (GB) (Green
Desert), Group 2 victor Cacique (Danehill) and an unraced Danehill juvenile colt
named Champs Elysees.
Intercontinental came into the Breeders' Cup with wins in this year's Galaxy
S. (G2), Jenny Wiley S. (G3), Royal Heroine S. (G3) and Palomar Breeders' Cup H.
(G2). She also owns a score in the Matriarch S. (G1) and placings in the John C.
Mabee H. (G1), Grand Criterium (Fr-G1) and English One Thousand Guineas
(Eng-G1). From a 22-13-3-4 mark, the bay mare has now earned $2,052,463.
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