BREEDERS’ CUP BLESSING
Saint Liam, bred by Virginia horseman Edward P. Evans, fulfilled his potential when it counted most.

Story by Sean Clancy
Photographs by Lydia A. Williams

Richard E. (Ricky) Dutrow Jr. stood smugly against the concrete wall on the second floor of Belmont Park’s grandstand. The 46-year-old New York-based trainer had just bagged his first Breeders’ Cup win with Silver Train in the Sprint-G1, but Dutrow knew there was more to this day.

“Thank you,” Dutrow said when congratulated on his first victory. “We’ve still got something to do.”

Oh, did they.
The 22nd running of the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, on October 29, was about highs and lows and, as always, about one-day performances by horses who, by some combination of luck and design, shined when it counted most.
The Dutrow-trained Saint Liam shone brightest of any horse on the brisk fall day. In front of 54,289 at Belmont Park, Saint Liam captured the biggest prize, the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1.

Saint Liam’s season could be described in two ways: one, best horse in the country; and two, last man standing. In a year when reigning Horse of the Year Ghostzapper flashed once and was finished, when top 3-year-old Afleet Alex’s pilot light couldn’t get reignited after victories in two legs of the Triple Crown, and all the others were either not good enough or not sound enough, Saint Liam kept showing up and getting the job done. On racing’s biggest day, the son of Saint Ballado did it again, securing the Classic in his final start before entering stud this season, at age 6, at Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky. He stands for $50,000.

Saint Liam never wavered on a day when favorites were shot down faster than bad pickup lines. Previously undefeated Lost in the Fog wilted in the Sprint, finishing seventh, thus silencing any Horse of the Year talk for the 3-year-old Californian. Defending champion Ashado ran hard in the Distaff-G1 but only managed a third in her final start before selling in the Keeneland November sale (where she brought $9 million, making her the most expensive broodmare or broodmare prospect ever sold at auction). Previously undefeated First Samurai failed in the Juvenile-G1, winding up third.

By the time the Classic came around, the day’s results were all over the board, ranging from a German-bred to an Ogden Phipps homebred who paid $63.50, to a D. Wayne Lukas-trained favorite. It took a professional performance by Saint Liam to balance the day, and most importantly his division.

Saint Liam, bred in Ken­tucky by Edward P. (Ned) Evans and raised on Evans’s 3,000-acre Spring Hill Farm in Casa­nova, Va., is almost certain to be named 2005 Horse of the Year.

Owned by William K. Warren Jr. and his wife Suzanne, Saint Liam took the Donn Handicap-G1 in February, the Stephen Foster Handicap-G1 in June, and the Woodward Stakes-G1 in September en route to the Classic. His only two losses were a dull sixth when he shipped to California for the Santa Anita Handicap-G1 a month after the Donn, and a rallying second to stubborn pacesetter Commentator in Sara­toga’s Whitney Handicap-G1.

Dutrow, confident before the race, was brash (with due reason) after the race.
“I’ll run the race again in 45 days. Anybody wants to come try us, we’re ready,” Dutrow said when asked about the Eclipse Award. “We have the best horse around. Anybody left standing, they were here today and we beat them. Throughout the year, he’s won everywhere; he’s faced the toughest they’ve got. We didn’t duck any kind of horse in any race. We went after them. That’s because I’ve always felt he was the best horse. When Saint Liam runs his race, I don’t think anybody can beat him.”

He certainly ran his race in the Classic. Saint Liam broke a step awkwardly from the 12-hole in the 13-horse field but jockey Jerry Bailey quickly had him gliding along in fourth behind longshots Sun King, Suave and fifth choice Flower Alley. In a matter of furlongs, Saint Liam had cleared the post position hurdle and the race was his to lose.
Travers and Jim Dandy winner Flower Alley battled to the lead turning for home, but Saint Liam rallied on the outside, grinding to the lead to finish the mile and a quarter in 2:01.49. Flower Alley, one of three 3-year-olds in the race, held on well for second to erase a disappointing fourth in his most recent start, the Jockey Club Gold Cup-G1. The gelding Perfect Drift, at the age of 6 making his fourth straight start in the Classic, finished third. Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Borrego was the biggest disappointment, never firing, finishing 10th.

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan picked out Saint Liam for the Warrens at Saratoga’s Select Yearling sale, and signed the ticket for $130,000. Warren named Saint Liam after his father, William Kelly Warren, who dropped out of school in the eighth grade to take care of his mother and his two sisters, and eventually built a company that became the world’s leading marketer of propane and butane. Liam is the Irish form of the name William, and means “unwavering protector.”

Saint Liam did not immediately live up to his name. He won two races and then failed to get through the two-other-than condition as a 3-year-old. He went to the farm for a rest, and Warren’s racing manager Mark Reid decided to change trainers, opting to put Saint Liam in Dutrow’s high-percentage stable in the fall of his 3-year-old season. After that, the horse was in a different orbit.

He won an allowance race at Aqueduct that December and another one at Gulfstream Park in January 2004, before becoming a fixture in the stakes division. The Classic was his sixth Grade 1 start in a row and 10th stakes start in a row. The Classic victory increased his lifetime earnings to $4,456,995, and he retired with nine wins from 20 starts.
Warren donated half of his proceeds from the sale of Saint Liam’s breeding rights to the Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa, Okla., a multi-faceted institution launched by his parents in 1960. The donation is well into the millions. His dad would be proud.
“He raised himself up from his boot straps. I idolize my father,” Warren said. “And I prayed today, because I have six older sisters, and that’s a bit unusual. My dad kept trying until I came along. So I prayed today that I would be a worthy son.”

Two starts ago, after Saint Liam lost the Whitney, Warren decided to replace jockey Edgar Prado with Bailey. In his first ride on the solid bay, Bailey didn’t have much more to do than steer Saint Liam, winning the Woodward by two lengths. Bailey and the horse combined for another perfect trip in the Breeders’ Cup—the jockey’s fifth victory in the Classic and record 15th Breeders’ Cup win.

“I really felt confident the moment I turned up the backside. At least I knew I had the horses in front of me,” Bailey said. “I felt pretty strong. I know Borrego comes with a strong run, but I was actually pretty confident all around.”

Bailey and Dutrow shared the same view.
“My confidence was in my horse. He showed me all signs for the last month, actually. Two days after he ran in that last race, he was mad. He’s been mad since. He wanted to go out there. So that’s where my confidence was,” Dutrow said. “I just have fun training horses. I love it. I have a passion for it. Everybody’s seen me today—when I win, I go off. I love the feeling that you get when you win, and that takes over. Anything is possible in this game.”

Dutrow also got to experience that feeling when Silver Train picked up the pieces after Lost in the Fog imploded in the Sprint.

Lost in the Fog battled near or on the lead until finding nothing when he turned for home, right about when the closers started to capitalize on the four-way foray on the lead. Silver Train, under Prado, closed the best of all, winning by a head over Taste of Paradise. Lion Tamer rallied for third. Silver Train finished the six furlongs in 1:08.86.

Owned by Buckram Oak Farm, Silver Train moved to Dutrow’s barn in May. The 3-year-old son of Old Trieste finished third in the Lite the Fuse Stakes at Belmont, won an allowance race at Belmont, and finished third as the favorite in Saratoga’s Grade 2 Amsterdam before winging to a five-length triumph in the Jerome Handicap-G2 in September.

Saint Liam and Silver Train combined to give Dutrow his best day as a trainer.
“I was lucky enough to have the right kind of horses at the right kind of time,” Dutrow said. “They came around—one’s a sprinter, one wants to go long. They both love this track. I’m very lucky to be in this position. It’s not anything that I was planning a year ago or anything like that. It’s just that it happened.”


No horse looked better in the paddock for the $2 million Turf-G1 than Shirocco (Ger). Making his second start in 27 days, with an ocean in between, the German-bred led a four-way European sweep of the Turf.

It’s called the World Thor­oughbred Championships, and no race—possibly in the history of the event—has epitomized the worldwide pull as did this year’s Turf.

Shirocco trains in France and in nine lifetime starts he appeared in Italy, Ger­many, France and now the U.S. He was ridden by Belgian-born Christophe Soumillon who, while crossing the wire, stood tall in his irons and blew kisses to the crowd. Following Shir­occo home was Ace (Ire), an Irish-bred who’s raced in four countries. Irish-bred Azamour finished third, with French-bred Bago, the 2004 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe-G1 winner, fourth. Virginia Derby winner English Channel represented the best American result, with a fifth-place finish after pressing the pace.

Owned and bred by Baron Georg von Ullman and trained by Andre Fabre, Shirocco basically used the mile and a half Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in which he finished fourth, as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup. A son of Monsun, Shirocco had only raced twice this year before tackling the Turf, which he won with authority by one and three-quarters lengths. Shirocco handled the good turf in 2:29.30 to become the first German-bred winner of a Breeders’ Cup race.

The victory was Fabre’s fourth career Breeders’ Cup victory, following In the Wings (GB) in the 1990 Turf, 134-1 longshot Arcangues in the 1993 Classic and Banks Hill (GB) in the 2001 Filly & Mare Turf.

“I was very confident after he ran in the Arc. He needed it a little bit,” Fabre said. “He acts on any ground, but today’s conditions favored him. He’s a strong galloper. He’s a typical representative of German breeding—staying horses, a lot of power, acting on any ground, with big hearts.”

Bobby Frankel seems always to have good turf mares in his care. In this year’s Filly & Mare Turf-G1, the Hall of Fame trainer brought two of his all-time best for their final races.

California dynamo Megahertz (GB) held up one side of the trainer’s hand, while Intercontinental (GB) represented his other chance.

Megahertz comes from out of it while the ultra-talented Intercontinental showed electric speed in her last two starts —both victories—but had never tried the mile and a quarter distance.

A 2000 daughter of Danehill, Intercontinental was dismissed at 15-1 while Megahertz went off as co-second choice. Into the first turn, they were on opposite ends of the see-saw with jockey Rafael Bejarano easing Intercontinental through a first quarter mile in :24.10 and a half mile in :48.92. Megahertz lagged eight lengths off the 13th-place horse in last.

Owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms, Inter­con­tinental brushed off any stamina questions, staving off favorite and defending champion Ouija Board (GB) to score by a length and a quarter. Film Maker, who clipped heels early in the race, finished third in another game try.

“I rarely ever stretched her out because she wouldn’t break good and she’s very strong. But then the last two times she broke decent, and I thought if she gets to the lead, she’ll relax,” Frankel said. “I was telling people all week, this is my sleeper. She couldn’t have done better. Once in a while you’re right.”

Dr. John Chandler, racing manager for Juddmonte, hoped that Frankel’s feeling was right. He also hoped family would come through.

Intercontinental’s full sister Banks Hill won the same race at Belmont Park in 2001.
“I’ve been inundated in the last 10 days with one question: Will the mare get a mile and a quarter?” Chandler said. “And I finally got an answer. She definitely will get a mile and a quarter.”

Richard Migliore, in a leather jacket and on crutches, hobbled out of the Belmont Park jocks’ room to do a television interview before the Breeders’ Cup races began. Migliore was the regular rider for Mile-G1 hope Artie Schiller until the veteran jockey broke his leg in a paddock incident at Belmont Park.

“I’m fine, but I think I might get out of here before the Mile,” Migliore said. “In case this horse runs the way I think he’s going to run.” Migliore was right.

Artie Schiller finally got his Grade 1 victory with a flawless performance in the $1,500,000 turf stakes. Ridden by California-based Garrett Gomez, the son of El Prado (Ire) found every seam on his way to a traffic-breaking victory by three-quarters of a length over favorite Leroidesanimaux (Brz), who came in riding an eight-race win streak. Gorella (Fr), one of only two females and two 3-year-olds in the race, finished third, beaten less than a length. The first seven flashed past the wire within three lengths of each other in another wild Mile.

Owned by William Enten­mann’s Timber Bay Farm, and Entenmann’s daughter Denise Walsh, Artie Schiller had made 18 starts leading up to the Breeders’ Cup. With nine victories—including six stakes—the Kentucky-bred had earned money, patented charisma and gained fans, but had yet to win a Grade 1 stakes. In 2004, as a 3-year-old, he went off the favorite in the Mile but got bounced around like a lottery ball and ended up 12th, beaten just over five lengths. Everything that went wrong the first time went right this time, as Artie Schiller finished the mile in 1:36.10. It was the first Breeders’ Cup victory for trainer Jimmy Jerkens.

“A lot of people can’t believe he hasn’t won a Grade 1,” Jerkens said. “He certainly is a Grade 1-caliber horse. If he retired without winning one, I would have taken that as a personal disaster.”

Keeneland will forever be known as a speed-favoring track. The bias is factored in when it comes to everything from handicapping to training. Shug McGaughey, Daisy Phipps and anybody connected with Pleasant Home watched the October 9 Spinster and decided that her second-place finish—fighting that bias every step—was good enough to take a shot at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff-G1.

Pleasant Home, racing as a 4-year-old Phipps Stable homebred, made up seven and three-quarters lengths in the Spinster. Still, she never threatened winner Pampered Princess in the mile and an eighth Grade 1 stakes that has proved to be a solid Breeders’ Cup prep.

“My daughter [Daisy] saw her down at the Spinster and they convinced me she ran well there and that was the reason she was in,” owner Dinny Phipps said. “I’m not a bettor, but I was surprised at the odds today. I thought they might be 12-1 or 15-1, something like that. I learned a long time ago from Shug when you have a horse that is going up, doing well, looking as well as she did, that’s the time to race them.”

Pleasant Home turned everyone into a prophet by winning the $2 million stakes by nine and a quarter lengths over Society Selection and favorite Ashado. Cornelio Velasquez rode the daughter of Seeking the Gold, who sped the nine furlongs in 1:48.34. It was her fifth career victory and first Grade 1 score.

“I thought a mile and an eighth over the track at Keeneland could set her up good for this one. Whether she was good enough or not, I didn’t know,” McGaughey said. “She had the 1 post that day. I thought she was fighting the track. Going around the first turn she got back farther than I thought she would. I was afraid she wasn’t going to run over the track. I could see her climbing. She was eating lot of dirt. She came running, was a little bit wide, not bad. If we look back, Inside Information had a hard race in the Spinster before she came here and won.”

Phipps homebred Inside Information won the 1995 Distaff at Belmont by a Breeders’ Cup record 131\2 lengths.

Merv Griffin has a trophy case of Emmys, a number one record, lifetime rights to the television shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Now he has a horse to rival any of the prizes and accolades he’s earned in his 80 years as an entertainment mogul.

Stevie Wonderboy, a son of Stephen Got Even, won his third straight race with an impressive performance in the Juvenile-G1. Garrett Gomez guided the chestnut colt from 12th to first in the 14-horse field. Stevie Wonderboy put away Henny Hughes and favorite First Samurai to win by a length and a quarter. The mile and a sixteenth race took 1:41.64. It was the first Breeders’ Cup victory for the jockey, owner, and trainer Doug O’Neill.

Certainly, Stevie Wonderboy is a star, but he’s got nothing on his owner, who relished the spotlight after his $100,000 2-year-old purchase dominated the $1.5 million race. Bred by John Gunther, Tony Holmes and Walter Zent, Stevie Wonderboy shipped from California and trained with authority over Belmont’s strip leading up to the big day. It was his flashy red body that went winging past, cruising in an open gallop, on Friday morning. He looked even better come Saturday.

“It’s very strange. I don’t remember them crossing the line,” Griffin said after the race. “By that time, my heart was in my throat and I think I almost looked away. I don’t remember him crossing. I heard all the team screaming behind me. I thought, ‘Gee, we must have done it.’ I don’t remember any horse ever crossing the finish line.”
O’Neill will never forget it.

“For me, just to be involved with such a successful businessman as Merv Griffin is just incredible. And to have a special horse like Stevie Wonderboy—it doesn’t get much better than that,” O’Neill said. “He’s very mature for a horse with little experience. He’s such a big horse for a 2-year-old. We haven’t drilled on him real hard. I’m not a big workout guy, so even though he didn’t show official workouts, he was galloping a good mile and a half every day.”

The Breeders’ Cup card got underway in unsurprising fashion—with Wayne Lukas sending out the winner, his 18th overall. This time it was the Juvenile Fillies-G1, and favorite Folklore.

From the first crop of two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Tiznow, Folklore made it look easy with a direct effort that had her a length and a quarter on top of Wild Fit and Original Spin. Folklore—owned and bred by Bob and Beverly Lewis—was on or near the lead every step under Edgar Prado, and ticked off her fourth career victory (and second Grade 1 win in a row) to give Prado his first Breeders’ Cup victory.

Wild Fit couldn’t get untracked early, dawdling behind the ninth-place horse by six lengths on the backside. The rangy gray filly closed ground, but came up short of catching Folklore, who covered the mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.85. One week later, Wild Fit sold for $3 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale.

“This filly puts so much into her mornings. She’s a very aggres­sive filly,” Lukas said of Folklore. “I told Edgar, just keep her settled, because I’ve got her on a short fuse. And you don’t need to stir her up; just take her over there and she’ll do the rest. She has a lot of the Tiznow look and action and style and I don’t have any question about her try. It’s there. We’ll take her to Cali­fornia, let her have a little sunshine and point her for the [Kentucky] Oaks.”