ARCADIA (California), Nov 7 — Irish-based Man of Iron wore down nine-year-old gelding Cloudy's Knight in the stretch to capture the US$500,000 (RM1.75 million) Breeders' Cup Marathon by a nose at Santa Anita Park yesterday.
Ridden by Johnny Murtagh and trained by Aidan O'Brien, the Kentucky-bred chestnut won for the fourth time in 10 career starts, the first outside Ireland.
In other Breeders' Cup races, She Be Wild easily took the US$2 million Juvenile Fillies with Julien Leparoux up, while Tapitsfly, with Robby Albarado in the irons, won the US$1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf by a half a length over Rose Catherine.
Man of Iron, a half-brother to Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and Rags to Riches, came from well off the pace to win the mile-and-three-quarters Marathon in 2:54.11, paying US$14.80 to a US$2 stake.
"It was his first time over the course so I let him just go along without any hurry," said Murtagh. "I wanted to stay out of trouble. I asked him at the three-eighths pole and he responded beautifully.
"He got the win right on the wire so it worked out just right."
Favorite Mastery, ridden by Frankie Dettori, finished third in the 10-horse race over Santa Anita's Pro-Ride synthetic surface.
"He danced one too many times this year," Dettori said after the British-bred's seventh race of 2009. "Everything is all right, the whole race went perfect, but the horse just had a long season."
In winning the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Tapitsfly returned US$21.60 for a US$2 win ticket, the fifth choice by punters in the field of 12.
"She got herself into position and the first time I pressed, she went on," said Albarado. "She came home nice. She's a little fighter. She's a true grass horse for sure."
The US$25.5 million, 14-race Breeders' Cup world championships is being held yesterday and today at Santa Anita. — Reuters
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