Show Triumph and tragedy at Breeders' Breeders Cup Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Horses trained by Bob Baffert won two Breeders' Breeders Cup up races Nashoba's Key lost for the first time and Curlin no doubt wrapped up hors year the year the honors Saturday by winning the million 5 Classic at Monmouth Park But for the second consecutive year at the Breeders' Breeders Cup the sad side of horse racing became highly visible on one of the sports sport's biggest stages European import George Washington suffered a broken right leg in the Classic just after Curlin crossed the finish finish line as the winner It happened right in front of the grandstands and the horse was on the track as workers held up large brown scree screens screens s to prevent the crowd of from watching The year old colt trained by Irishman Aidan OBrien O'Brien was retired at the end of last year with plans to stud But the horse was found to be infertile Last year in the Breeders' Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville Ky Pine Island suffered a fatal breakdown in the Distaff And before that was Barbaros Barbaro's fatal misstep in the Preakness after the horse had won the Kentucky Derby George Washington was bred by Roy and Gretchen Jackson who owned Barbaro Barbara and spent millions trying to keep him alive On the same day Barbaro Barbara won the 2006 Kentucky Derby George Washington won the 2000 Guineas the opening leg of the English classics In Saturdays Saturday's Breeders' Breeders Cup Classic Curlin the winner of this years year's Preakness moved into contention around the final turn and swept past Hard Spun and Lawyer Ron the early line favorite who finished seventh Hard Spun finished second and Awesome Gem who had finished second in his last three races two at Del Mar and one at Oak OakTree OakTree OakTree Tree at Santa Anita was third Tiago the other Southern California horse in the Classic finished fifth 10 lengths behind the winner Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense was fourth in his final race before retiring to stud The race was run in sunshine although it rained during some of the days day's early races Curlin who covered 1 4 1 miles in paid 1080 to win Baffert who had won only three Breeders' Breeders Cup races in 44 starts before Saturday got the first of his days day's two wins when Indian Blessing went wire to wire in the Juvenile Fillies Three races later in the Sprint for year olds and up Midnight Lute gave Baffert his second win Baffert's other entry Tough Sis winner of the Lady Secret Stakes at Oak Tree at Santa Anita Oct 7 finished seventh in inthe inthe inthe the Distaff Garrett Gomez rode both of Baffert's winners He also guided Octave to toa toa toa a third-place third finish in the Distaff The winner of the Distaff was Ginger Punch who is owned by Santa Anita owner Frank Stronach and trained by Bobby Frankel who finished second in the Lady Secret Stakes at Oak Tree was second Nashoba's Key after winning her first seven races all this year finished fourth in the Filly Mare Turf The race was won by 12 1 shot Starting from the No 3 post Nashoba's Key got gotoff gotoff gotoff off to a bad start Trapped along the rail the year 4 old eventually mounted a mild bid in the upper stretch but just didn't have enough left on the muddy track What the heck happened trainer Carla Gaines asked 17 year 17 earold ear ear- old jockey Joe immediately after the race Later said Nothing we could do She was on the inside the whole way the worst part of the track It was probably six inches deep there on the rail This was very disappointing but she still ran a heck of heck of a race She should still be undefeated Gaines who didn't blame the loss on the track conditions said Turf racing is always difficult Things happen Baffert who has saddled such great horses as Silver Charm Real Quiet Point Given and War Emblem may have another one in Indian Blessing The year old filly owned by Hal and Patti Earnhardt of Mesa Ariz is undefeated in three races all decisive wins Indian Blessing was the 3 1 favorite and beat second-place second finisher Proud Spell by 3 2 1 lengths Baffert said he will give the horse the rest of the year off and wasn't sure where the horse would next run For a while this summer the year old filly was stabled at Del Mar and was entered in a race on Pacific Classic day But Indian Blessing along with Midnight Lute was among the horses Baffert sent East because he wasn't a fan of Del Mars Mar's new |