Northern Spur repelled Arc de Triomphe runner-up Freedom Cry in a stirring stretch duel to capture the grade I Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Freedom Cry trailed the winner by two lengths after a mile and a quarter before beginning a steady advance.
“When the other horse (Freedom Cry) got to my saddle towel, he (Northern Spur) picked it up and we fought him off,” said winning jockey Chris McCarron. “He was the best horse today.”
Northern Spur has been the best horse since going on Lasix after he bled in his 10th-place finish in the Arlington Million Aug. 27. The 4-year-old son of Sadler’s Wells won the grade I Oak Tree Invitational at Santa Anita Oct. 8, prepping for the Turf.
The $1.04 million winner’s purse spiked the Irish-bred winner’s holdings to $1,421,792, all but $139,301 of that earned in the U.S.
It was the first Breeders’ Cup start and win for owner Charles Cella, the owner and president of Oaklawn Park. He bought Northern Spur for $1.3 million in 1994.
Trainer Ron McAnally recorded his fourth Breeders’ Cup win in 16 tries, and first in the Turf.
The front-running Turk Passer set dawdling early fractions of :25 1/5, :52 3/5, 1:19 and 1:45 4/5 in the Turf. The race mirrored the Mile as the slowest ever run. The final time of 2:42, was 6 4/5 seconds tardier than the previous mark.
The late-running Arlington Million winner Awad fell victim to the race’s pace and finished sixth.
“Let’s face it. We’ll never see conditions like this again. That may have been the slowest mile-and-a-half in American history,” said trainer David Donk. “We made up some ground, but it was too much to ask.”
