Emotional Million as Local Favorite The Pizza Man Delivers

The Pizza Man prevailed in the 2015 Arlington Million as the local favorite held off a late rally from Big Blue Kitten for a career-defining win and an emotional victory for his connections. (Four Footed Fotos)
In front of his hometown crowd on Saturday, The Pizza Man delivered for a second year in a row when he became the first Illinois-bred to win the Grade 1 Arlington Million.
The career-defining victory came one year after he struck in the American St. Leger on the 2014 Arlington Million undercard.
Doing what he was entered to do, Shining Copper set super quick pace up front with a :46.75 opening half-mile. Jockey Florent Geroux reserved The Pizza Man farther back than he has in previous starts, 13 lengths behind Shining Copper at that point in the race with only four horses beat.
Sitting behind the first flight of horses going down the backstretch, The Pizza Man slowly started passing horses and closed the gap between he and Shining Copper to 5 ½ lengths six furlongs into the race. 
With a quarter-mile remaining, Shining Copper still had a four-length advantage while running a mile in 1:36.48. The Pizza Man was just two lengths behind the second-place horse and launched his winning bid.
Coming into the stretch, the crowd erupted as they saw The Pizza Man making his move with only Shining Copper and Up With the Birds in front of him. The yielding turf, which had downgraded from firm after an hour-long shower right before the Million, didn’t seem to be a problem for the gelding as Geroux asked him for his all.
In midstretch, it looked like any of three horses could win the race, with Up With the Birds passing Shining Copper on the inside and The Pizza Man charging on the outside. Big Blue Kitten also surged into contention, but The Pizza Man would not be denied, beating Big Blue Kitten by a neck in a final time of 2:02.20 for the 1 1/4 miles.
 “I’m always confident when I ride him, he loves to win and knows where the wire is,” Geroux said. “But I had no horse the whole way, it looked like he was struggling over the very soft track, but when I put him outside he started to hold up and grabbed the bit again, and I was thinking, ‘oh boy he’s going for a big one here!’
“He is a local horse and even going to the track there was a lot of people cheering for us, and I’d like to thank them.”
Shining Copper held off Up With the Birds for third. Race favorite Slumber finished a disappointing eighth.
There had been talk before the race about The Pizza Man potentially not belonging in the Million and owner Richard Papiese believed that wasn’t fair to the team.
“I don’t normally take things personally; it is what it is, but I thought we belonged and I thought it wasn’t fair to the horse, the rider and the trainer,” he said. “We feel like we have a really, really good grass horse.”
Papiese’s Midwest Thoroughbreds won the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Work All Week. Now the racing operation has a chance to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf as this was a “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series race that provided the victor with an automatic berth in the Turf.
Papiese said that winning the Arlington Million, a hometown race for him, was more rewarding than the Breeders’ Cup.
“The Breeders’ Cup was incredible, it is an incredible thing. You can’t ever take anything away from it and I hope we do it again. However, to do something at home like this, it’s emotional. I’m very in check with my emotions, and I’m having a hard time keeping it together,” he said.
THE PIZZA MAN'S CONNECTIONS CELEBRATE WITH ... PIZZA

Four Footed Fotos
If they do decide to take The Pizza Man to the Breeders’ Cup Turf, they’ll have to supplement the gelding to the race, as they did with Work All Week last year, because he is not Breeders’ Cup nominated. According to Papiese, supplementing him to the Breeders’ Cup depends on how the horse does the next few months.
The Pizza Man paid $13.80 to win for a $2 ticket at odds of 5.90-to-1.
Beverly D. Stakes: Running in a downpour that hit right before the Secretariat Stakes, Watsdachances had luck on her side in the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes when she was elevated from second place to first after Secret Gesture was disqualified for interfering with Stephanie’s Kitten.
A deep closer, Watsdachances raced second to last throughout the race, at one point 15 lengths behind pacesetter Euro Charline, who won the race last year. Watsdachances and Joe Bravo weren’t in a hurry throughout the 1 3/16-mile race, only moving up to sixth after three-quarters of a mile and fifth with about a furlong left.
But showing her explosive turn of foot, Watsdachances closed from fifth to second in that final furlong while Secret Gesture, who crossed the finish line first, drifted out and impeded Stephanie’s Kitten, leading to Secret Gesture's disqualification.
“You can’t make this game up: with the rainstorm we got, and they had her ready to run and she just loved the distance,” said winning jockey Joe Bravo.
The win was the first Grade 1 victory for the 5-year-old Watsdachances who has won two of her three starts this year. She went off at odds of 8.90-to-1 and paid $19.80 to win on a $2 ticket. Race favorite Euro Charline finished fourth, 2 ¼ lengths behind Secret Gesture.
Secretariat Stakes: With the rain starting to come down while the horses circled the paddock in the $450,000 Secretariat Stakes, Ireland-based Highland Reel felt right at home when he went out to the track in a downpour.
Jockey Seamie Hefferman had Highland Reel set the pace and they dominated from start to finish as no one seriously challenged them on the way to a victory by 5 ¼ lengths. Closing Bell closed from second to last to finish second and Belmont Derby winner Force the Pass made up for his bad break by finishing third.
“I didn’t see much pace and he won easy,” Heffernan said after the race.
HIGHLAND REEL DOMINATED SECRETARIAT

Four Footed Fotos
The win was Highland Reel’s first Grade 1 victory and is the third Secretariat victory in the last five years for trainer Aidan O’Brien, the Coolmore ownership group and Ireland stallion Galileo.
American St. Leger: Looking like a million dollars throughout the week and in the paddock before the $350,000 American St. Leger, Lucky Speed made easy work of the race to get the win.
Racing in midpack at about fifth throughout the 1 11/16-mile race, the German-based Lucky Speed had only one horse in front of him with about an eighth of a mile left to go, the Ireland-based Panama Hat.
Panama Hat was the only horse who could stay anywhere near Lucky Speed, but the winner collared him in that final furlong as he grudgingly yielding the lead to finish three-quarters of a length behind Lucky Speed.
LUCKY SPEED TAKES TOP PRIZE IN ST. LEGER

Four Footed Fotos
“[I] had a lovely smooth trip all the way around and he kicked off the turn. I probably just met a good one on the day,” said Chris Hayes, Panama Hat’s jockey.
Lucky Speed’s last win came in the Group 1 Sparda Deutsches Derby in 2013, although he had hit the board twice last year. His connections felt that stretching him out farther than the 1 ½ miles he had been running at would be the best move for him, and it paid off with Lucky Speed winning at odds of 3-to-1 with race favorite Hyper finishing four lengths behind the top two.
“We knew he needed more distance and that’s what he got today in the American St. Leger;he can handle the American track very well. I am so happy this is my first win in the United States and to win the St. Leger is amazing. It was the right conditions to bring him over here and I’m very happy,” said Lucky Speed’s jockey Andreas Starke.
Lucky Speed paid $8.00 to win on a $2 ticket.
For Equibase charts from the Arlington Million card, click here.