Shadwell: Grand Arch Holds Over The Pizza Man

Grand Arch held off The Pizza Man in an exciting finish Oct. 3 at Keeneland, earning his first grade I win for owners Jim and Susan Hill when claiming the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (gr. IT) by a head.

The Shadwell is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" event for the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT), a race the 6-year-old Arch   gelding will contest after picking up his second graded victory in a row off an Aug. 15 victory in the Fourstardave Handicap (gr. IIT).

"I would hope to think so," trainer Brian Lynch said of a Breeders' Cup Mile bid. "It's great to see him as he gets older. He just keeps getting better and better. We had this race in mind this year after a game effort last year. I was worried about the turf getting a little soft today, but he handled it well."

Grand Arch, who was second to champion Wise Dan in the 2014 running of the Shadwell, tracked fourth on the rail under jockey Luis Saez while longshot Kelinni carried along on the lead through opening fractions of :23.91 and :48 flat. As three-quarters went in 1:12.27, Saez shifted his mount out for a bid, and the bay runner responded with a strong surge.

"When we got to the half-mile (pole), I had so much horse (that) I was just waiting for a little room," Saez said. "Thank God when we got to the stretch he got a little room and he kept going. At the end, I saw two horses flying and I thought they were going to beat me, but he's a fighter. He just kept going."

Arlington Million (gr. IT) winner The Pizza Man closed hard from far back through seven eighths in 1:24.56, but ran out of ground to catch Grand Arch, who finished a mile on yielding turf in 1:37.45. Tourist was third.

"He ran huge," owner Richard Papiese of Midwest Thoroughbreds said of The Pizza Man. "If there weren't so many horses across the track, he gets up for the win. For all the folks who may have thought he couldn't run a mile: Surprise. It's a question of two turns and he could probably run a two-turn race at six furlongs on a small track and run big. I couldn't be happier. The instructions were 'where he breaks, he breaks.' We wanted a target and we didn't want to be a target.

"He got more out of this race than you could ever imagine for going into the Breeders' Cup (Turf, gr. I) and that's why we ran here instead of any other race. It's about bigger and better things down the line."

Grand Arch, off at odds of 4-1 in a field of 12, paid $10.60, $4.80, and $4.20. The Pizza Man paid $5.20 and $3.80, and Tourist brought $6.60. Completing the order of finish were Seek Again, 7-2 favorite Dutch Connection, King Kreesa, Kelinni, Jack Milton, Bobby's Kitten, Heart to Heart, and Grand Tito.

The race was marred by the breakdown of longtime Calumet Farm runner Skyring, who did not finish after being pulled up abruptly by jockey Joseph Rocco Jr. on the backside due to injury. He was euthanized.

Bred in Kentucky by Hunter Valley Farm & S. Hillen out of the El Gran Senor mare Bacinella, Grand Arch improved his career record to 7-6-6 from 23 starts for earnings of $1,607,230. He was purchased by the Hills for $120,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale, where Indian Creek's agency consigned for Iroquois Bloodstock IV. Indian Creek spent $80,000 the previous year to buy him as a weanling at Keeneland November from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment.