Order of Australia Upsets BC Mile for O'Brien Sweep
Image:
Description:
Photo: David Coyle/Team Coyle
Order of Australia wins the Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland
Top international trainer Aidan O'Brien pulled off the biggest stunner of the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 7 by winning the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T) with 73-1 Order of Australia and also conditioning the next two finishers. After going 0-for-22 in the race, it was quite a way to win his first Mile.
Order of Australia's winning price of $148.40 set a Breeders' Cup record for highest winning payout in the Mile and is the second-highest payout for the World Championships overall. The previous highest payout in the Mile was Court Vision in 2011 at 64-1. The highest payout overall remains $269.20 for Arcangues' in the 1993 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), who went off at odds of 133-1. The win also delivered a second win for French jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot, who got his first with Audarya in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T).
Order of Australia strides out at the wire
Order of Australia, a 3-year-old son of Australia, was bred by Whisperview Trading, a racehorse training and bloodstock firm owned by the Ballydoyle stable trainer and his wife, Anne Marie. He is out of the unraced Danehill mare Senta's Dream, making him a half brother to multiple grade/group 1 winner and 2019 Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) winner Iridessa.
Owned by Anne Marie O'Brien with the Coolmore Stud-affiliated Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, and Michael Tabor, Order of Australia drew into the race off the also-eligible list with the scratch of One Master. Jockey Christophe Soumillon was originally scheduled to ride the colt but tested positive for COVID-19 Nov. 5 and had to enter isolation, which opened the door for Boudot to get the mount.
"It's been unbelievable," Boudot said after the race. "Aidan told me he is a fast and proper horse (for) the mile and the ground. I took a position behind the leaders and he traveled very nicely, and then he gave me a nice turn of foot."
Order of Australia heads to the winner's circle
Prior to the Breeders' Cup, Order of Australia had won twice out of seven starts and made three starts in group company with a fourth-place finish his best showing. His career earnings of $39,846 and an unplaced finish last out in the Novi IT Services International Stakes (G3) at the Curragh contributed to his longshot price.
He raced with the diuretic Lasix, as did the other O'Brien trainees and most of the other competitors.
When the gates sprang in the Mile, anticipated pacesetter Halladay hustled to the lead accompanied by fellow frontrunner Factor This. They were quickly joined by Kameko, and the trio tracked in this order through early fractions of :23.48, :46.97, and 1:10.39. Order of Australia stalked a length behind Kameko through the turn where he started his advance against the leaders. He passed Halladay a furlong from the wire and held off a furious rally from O'Brien's Circus Maximus to win by a neck in 1:33.73.
O'Brien's third entrant, Lope Y Fernandez, also made an impressive run from ninth, with jockey Frankie Dettori weaving him through traffic down the stretch to finish third, three-quarters of a length back.
"We always felt that a mile on fast ground and flat track is what he wanted," said O'Brien. "We felt maybe we were running him too far. This was the first time he really got the conditions he really wanted."
O'Brien said he was not surprised to learn Order of Australia went off at a big price, though he wasn't expecting odds this big.
"I suppose Circus Maximus might have been the most fancied and then Lope Y Fernandez, and then no one knew much about this horse. It was the first time for him to ever race at this trip on a track with fast ground," he said.
O'Brien added that it was particularly rewarding to celebrate this accomplishment with a homebred. He said Senta's Dream also produced a 2-year-old by Camelot named Santa Barbara that won her first start impressively at the Curragh Sept. 26.
Pierre-Charles Boudot (center) celebrates his second Breeders' Cup score as Coolmore connections look on
Ryan Moore, who rode Circus Maximus, said his horse ran a lovely race.
Dettori said he lost his running room in the turn but was pleased with Lope Y Fernandez's effort.
"I lost my spot on the turn. That cost me a bit. Then he came (on) good," Dettori said.
New York trainer Chad Brown had three horses in the race, including 6-1 second choice Uni, who won this race last year. Uni finished fifth, and Brown's other starters, Raging Bull and Digital Age, finished 10th and 11th, respectively.
Foreign-bred horses swept the top five positions. Eight competed.
"Uni clearly ran the best race, and none of my horses got good position," Brown said. "Uni just couldn't secure that midpack spot I was hoping for. Watching how the turf is playing, it encouraged my jockeys, if possible, to be near or in some sort of striking range turning for home. None of them could, and it seems that only one of the three actually kicked off the quarter pole and could have possibly won the race if in better position."
Brown said Digital Age hopped at the start. Jockey Javier Castellano told him the horse was rocking back and forth when the gate was opened.
"He lost all chance there just sitting in the back. He tried to make a little run, but from that point forward he was a little disinterested. Raging Bull, for him, he wasn't in terrible position but was a little bit flat down the lane," Brown said.
Jockey Joel Rosario, who was aboard Uni, said: "It seemed like it was going good. It's tough sometimes from an outside post, but it looked like I was going to get some part of the race in the last part. It was a fast race today, and it seemed like (they) didn't come back."