Fire At Will Upsets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf

A year after settling for second in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G2T) at Santa Anita Park with Chimney Rock, owner Three Diamonds Farm and trainer Mike Maker fared one better in the 2020 Breeders' Cup. The duo connected with Fire At Will, who upset 7-2 favorite Battleground and other international and domestic runners in the $920,000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T) Nov. 6.

Although Fire At Will entered off two consecutive stakes victories, the off-the-grass With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, followed by the Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) at Belmont Park, bettors paid him scant respect. The 2-year-old son of Declaration of War was dismissed at 30-1 odds.

There was no overlooking him in the race itself. Once the gates opened, Fire At Will showed he belonged. He quickly secured a forward position under Ricardo Santana Jr., sitting an inside pocket trip in third as Outadore set the pace with fractions of :23.64, :48.12, and 1:12.60 in the mile race on good turf.

Angled a few paths off the rail for the stretch, Fire At Will asserted his superiority. He caught Outadore in midstretch and powered away by three lengths, covering the distance in 1:35.81, a tenth of a second slower than Aunt Pearl's clocking in the Breeders' Cup Juveniles Fillies Turf (G1T) about an hour later. He paid $62.40.

"Last year we were unlucky to lose with Chimney Rock, and Fire At Will made us forget all about it," Maker said.

The colt gave his trainer his third Breeders' Cup victory following champion Hansen's frontrunning score in the 2011 Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and Furthest Land's triumph in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

Fire at Will is not a difficult horse to ride, Maker said, and Santana made it look easy.

"I got a beautiful trip. I had plenty of horse in the tank," said the jockey, who notched his second Breeders' Cup win after Mitole's score in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) last year.

Battleground, bidding to give trainer Aidan O'Brien, jockey Ryan Moore, and his Coolmore-affiliated ownership their fifth Juvenile Turf victory, rallied to grab second, a neck ahead of Outadore. In traffic on the second turn, the runner-up found his best stride late, though not even he was as strong late as the winner.

Other participants had significant traffic issues. Several were steadied and jostled in the scramble to the first turn, perhaps none more so than Abarta, who was hampered so much that his jockey, Umberto Rispoli, lost his right stirrup. He recovered it as the field entered the backstretch, but the horse failed to mount a bid and ran 13th in the field of 14.

A $97,000 yearling purchase by Three Diamonds Farm at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Select Sales consignment, Fire at Will is the first foal from the unplaced Kitten's Joy  mare Flirt. He was bred in Kentucky by Troy Rankin.

Although the colt is bred for turf—Declaration of War won the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) overseas—Fire at Will does not seem limited to a turf career. 

Kirk Wycoff, head of his family's Three Diamonds Farm, said Maker wanted to run Fire At Will in the TVG Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance on Friday, though Wycoff's desire to run in the Juvenile Turf won out.

"We had that wrestling match about three weeks ago," said Wycoff, who won his first Breeders' Cup race. "But he's a lovely horse. He's good on both surfaces, as we saw at Saratoga."

Asked whether the colt could pursue next year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), neither Maker nor Wycoff committed to that pursuit. Wycoff said a race on dirt in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs had been floated as a possibility if the colt had not cracked the top three Friday.

Having won the race, he will instead get some well-earned rest in preparation for running as a 3-year-old, Maker said.