Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

ELMONT, N.Y. - Long shot Silver Train arrived on time to win the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday, handing sprint king Lost in the Fog his first defeat in 11 starts and surviving a claim of foul in the stretch by the rider of runner-up Taste of Paradise.

After pressing early leader Attila’s Storm through reasonable fractions of :22.01 and :44.56 in the early stages, Lost in the Fog looked like he had the race in hand when he rolled to the lead at the top of the stretch. But instead of bursting away from the pack, he labored for a furlong with his rivals in close pursuit and then was inhaled by a pack of horses.

First to pass the 7-10 favorite was Silver Train, who struck the lead under Edgar Prado and then hung on to win by a head from a hard-charging Taste of Paradise. The running time was 1:08.86.

Garrett Gomez, riding Taste of Paradise, claimed foul against the winner, saying that  the horse came out and forced him to take up. The stewards saw it different and left the “3” up on the Tote Board, rewarding believers in the 3-year-old son of Old Trieste, with a payoff of $25.80 for each $2.

The victory was Prado’s second of the day and the first for Silver Train’s trainer Richard Dutrow Jr.

“I was happy to see a couple of horses come fast out of the gate — I could just bide my time,” said Prado. “Everyone came running and I sat behind them. It worked out great, beautiful.”

Slide show   The Breeders' Cup See images from the 2005 World Thoroughbreds Championships at Belmont Park.

Lost in the Fog’s trainer, Greg Gilchrist, said he couldn’t explain why the brilliant 3-year-old colt flattened out after hitting the lead, as the fractions seemed well within his comfort zone.

“He just didn’t have it in him today for no apparent reason,” he said. “…  (But) even though he’s now 10-of-11, we’re going to keep him around the barn.”

“Just inside the eighth pole, he had nothing,” said Russell Baze, aboard the beaten favorite. “Past the quarter pole, he surged, got in the lead I caught my stick and he lunged forward and gave me a bunch of dozen jumps after that. I had nothing left.”

Wildcat Heir took a bad step and fell in the upper stretch, throwing jockey Stewart Elliott hard to the ground. Both horse and rider were said to be OK afterward.

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Silver Train, trained by Richard Dutrow Jr., was coming off the best performance of his career, a five-length victory in the Grade 2 Jerome Handicap at Belmont Park on September 11. Prior to that, the 3-year-old son of Old Trieste had finished third in the Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga, his first stakes race of the year.

“We had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” said Dutrow, who won his first Breeders’ Cup race in three starts. “This horse ran in 1:07 and change (in an allowance at Belmont in July) and he just loves this track. We gave him plenty of time after the Jerome. He was cutting back to a mile, but we figured we could take a chance on a race like this.”

Lost in the Fog, who was briefly under consideration for the Triple Crown but has never run further than seven furlongs, will return to California and be back to compete next year, Gilchrist said.

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