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A German first Oct. 29: 20-1 shot Shirocco defeats defending champion Better Talk Now and favorite Azamour to win the Turf. It's the first Cup victory for a German horse. |
The colt became the first German horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race.
Fabre and jockey Christophe Soumillon, another first-time winner on a day that saw four of them, employed a canny strategy to capture the $2 million Turf, staking out a forward position in the pack despite the presence of a “rabbit” — a horse entered just to ensure a fast early pace.
“He’s a horse that has a lot of stamina, so he needs to be ridden like that, close to the pace,” said the 60-year-old Fabre, who was winning his fourth Breeders’ Cup race from 37 starters.
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“When I got to the turn, I just wanted to let him go and not try to pull him back to mix up his action,” said Soumillon, winning his first Breeders’ Cup race in just his third start. “We got two (lengths) in front and when he saw the wire, he just flew home.”
Fabre is best known in this country for his work with 1993 Classic winner Arcanques, the only European horse ever to capture the premier U.S. race and the longest-priced winner in its history, as those who collected the $133.60 surely remember.
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Refreshingly, Fabre indicated that the owner, Baron Georg Von Ullman, will race the winner as a 5-year-old.
“He will stay in training,” the trainer said. “. . . Probably we will stay in Europe and America.”
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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