Super Singletary holds Europeans at bay

Antonius Pius’s waywardness and a troubled passage for Six Perfections cost the European team dear as Singletary hung on grimly to land a dramatic NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile at Lone Star Park today.

David Flores rode a copybook race on the 16-1 shot, who struck for home early in the short home straight and stole an advantage which proved crucial as the runner-up came home powerfully to get within half a length.

However, the result could have been much different had Antonius Pius not hindered his chance by drifting badly left under a right-hand drive from Jamie Spencer.

Aidan O’Brien’s enigmatic Danzig colt left punters who had taken the 30-1 about him frustrated yet again, while Six Perfections ran her heart out in her bid to win this race for the second year running.

She would have pushed the principals close had she not been forced to check for several strides swinging for home.

The winner is named after the legendary Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary, and his owners Little Red Feather Racing were jubilant as they cheered their winner into the winner’s enclosure.

Bill Koch, who fronts the syndicate, said: “We never set out to make a million dollars with this horse, but his isn’t about money. It’s about friends getting together to laugh and cry together and we want to bring racing back to when it used to be like that all the time.”

David Flores, who rode he winner, added: “The one thing about this horse is that when he takes the lead he’s very difficult to get by. I heard the runner-up coming, but he would have had to be very tough to get by my horse today.”

Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of Antonius Pius, has spent a considerable amount of time defending his charge this season after a series of wayward displays have cost him victory.

“He has so much speed he could be a sprinter, but he has got a bit of a kink,” said the Ballydoyle maestro.

“He has immense ability and I still hope that it might be mental immaturity and that he can grow out of it but I don’t know if he will stay in training.

“Jamie said that if he rode him again, he wouldn’t have hit him and then he would have won but I’m not so sure about that.”

Spencer added: “Coming round the turn he was all over them and when I gave him a slap he took off but he just gets angry.

“He edged away from the stick and he really should have won it.

“It is softer out there than I thought it was going to be, pretty loose on top, but he handled it well.”

Six Perfections found her wide draw too much of an obstacle to overcome and did well to finish as close as she did to the winner having had to forfeit ground throughout in her bid to land the race for the second year running.

Her rider Jerry Bailey said: “I was happy where I was around the first turn and down the back she was travelling well and I thought we were within striking distance.

“But when I angled her out turning for home the hole was moving a little quicker than I could move and she lost a little momentum.”

Six Perfections will now be retired to stud and will visit Storm Cat for her first mating.

Compatriots Diamond Green and Whipper finished down the field.

Whipper’s jockey Christophe Soumillon said: “I had to make too much use of him from the draw and it was a very different race from the Marois where he was able to come from behind.”

Fancied runners definitely had the best of the opening exchanges on the card and Sweet Catomine looked the real deal as she took the Juvenile Fillies with impressive ease.

Settled in mid-division by Corey Nakatani, the daughter of Storm Cat accelerated off the bend to quickly put distance between herself and the chasing pack.

And had Nakatani really wanted, the pairing could probably have won by mothan the official three and three-quarter lengths winning margin they had over Balletto at the line.

O’Brien’s first runner, Mona Lisa, failed to run any kind of race and finished in the rear.

Another well-backed favourite, Ashado, had got punters off to the best possible start on the day when taking the opening Distaff contest.

Always travelling sweetly under John Velazquez, the well-travelled winner found an opening between rivals off the home turn and burst clear with 200 yards to run.

Storm Flag Flying, the winner of the Juvenile Fillies contest two years ago, came out of the pack in pursuit of Ashado and a unique double.

But Velazquez’s mount had enough in hand to hold on by a length and a quarter and give Texas trainer Todd Pletcher a first Breeders’ Cup winner.

Ashado, who has now finished in the frame in her last 11 starts, is set to remain in training next season with a possible trip to Dubai and the World Cup meeting in March already earmarked.

Andre Fabre’s Nebraska Tornado faded after being prominent in the early stages and finished eighth of the 11 runners.

Jockey Edgar Prado said: “I was probably closer to the pace than I wanted to be because she broke so well.

“She handled the dirt really well but she was slightly hampered coming into the turn and started to lose ground.”

Having come into the meeting with no winners from 12 runners at the Breeders’ Cup, Pletcher proceeded to complete a double along with Velazquez when Speightstown took the Sprint from Kela.