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Rich Tapestry secures U.S. debut in Santa Anita Sprint Championship
"I know in American racing style, they go very fast, always very fast in the first quarter, and the second quarter ... and in the home straight, they all slow down. So I just asked my jockey, 'Give the horse a chance. Try to make him finish. You cannot go with them in the early stage." Rich Tapestry was still in last coming off the turn, while 4-5 favorite Goldencents had taken control of the lead and started to slowly inch away. Rich Tapestry had other plans as he swung out into the stretch and put in a rally under urging from jockey Oliver Doleuze. The five-year-old horse kept digging in and closed the gap on the leader to get up by a nose at the wire. "He's such a nice horse," Doleuze said. "He traveled well and he did what we asked of him today. He's going to improve from this race so he'll absolutely be ready for the Breeders' Cup." Rich Tapestry covered six furlongs in 1:07 2/5 on the fast main track. Sent off as the 7-1 third choice on the board, the bay returned $16.60 for the score. Goldencents took second by 1 3/4 lengths over third-place finisher Secret Circle. Ankeny Hill and Indexical were fourth and fifth respectively. "We broke really well but not as fast as he used to when he was running sprints consistently," said Rafael Bejarano, jockey of runner-up Goldencents. "I just let him go and decided to tuck in behind the speed and follow. When we came to the stretch I felt I had a lot of horse so I let him go. He opened up but when he got a length or two in front, for some reason he put his ears up and pulled up a little; he's never done that before. That's why we got caught. When Rich Tapestry came to us Goldencents looked at him and seemed scared for a minute; he didn't fight back. "It was the same race he ran last year right before he won the Breeders' Cup (Dirt) Mile, so he's ready. He's definitely going on to the Breeders' Cup." "I'll check with (owners) Josh (Kaplan) and Glenn (Sorgenstein), but we're 90 percent plus to run in the Dirt Mile," said Doug O'Neill, trainer of Goldencents, who was uncertain as to who would be the horses' trainer of record for the Breeders' Cup as a result of a medication violation in New York in June of 2013. Originally trained by Dermot Weld in Ireland, the son of Holy Roman Emperor broke his maiden over Dundalk's Polytrack at second asking, but in his first attempt on synthetic. After a fourth in the Ballysax and a sixth in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial in 2011, he was exported to Hong Kong. He was unplaced in six straight for new connections before switching to the dirt, and promptly won two in a row in the spring and summer of 2012. With his rating rising too high to stay in dirt events, Rich Tapestry has since been playing his trade on turf with mixed results in tough company. He landed the Sprint Cup at Sha Tin in April 2013, and finished sixth to Japanese supremo Lord Kanaloa in the December 8 Hong Kong Sprint. Rich Tapestry shipped to Dubai in March for his 2014 bow, making his first start on an all-weather surface, and won the Group 3 Mahab al Shimaal, the stepping-stone to the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan. He would finish runner-up in that race later in the month by three parts of a length and was exiting an eighth-place finish in the Group 2 Sprint Cup in April while retuning to the Sha Tin turf in Hong Kong. "I could not find a decent race for him in Hong Kong," said Chang, when asked why he hasn't had a race since April. "In Hong Kong, the season ends in the middle of July and the new season doesn't start until September. He's so good on the dirt, so I took a chance to try my luck here today. "The horse will stay with Leonard Powell the Breeders' Cup. I fly back to Hong Kong tonight. I still have 50 horses there. I'll be back here a week before the Breeders' Cup." The bay grabbed $180,000 for the victory to increase his lifetime earnings to $1,450,225 from a career line of 27-7-4-1. Bred by Moyglare Stud, the son of Eddington now races for the partnership of Silas Yang Siu Shun, Wong Tak Wai, Ho Chi Keung and Cheung Yuk Tak. He is out of the Sadler's Wells mare Genuine Charm, who is a full sister to Irish highweight, classic winner and sire Refuse to Bend and a half-sister to 2002 Melbourne Cup hero Media Puzzle. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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