HK's Rich Tapestry Can Join Sheikh Albadou

Any Breeders' Cup race on the dirt would seem to favor American runners over foreigners, and the Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) perhaps stands atop that list. Six furlongs on the dirt is made for Americans, especially since the creation of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) in 2008 gave European grass sprinters another option.

Yet Rich Tapestry is likely to be the first horse from Hong Kong to even compete in a Breeders' Cup race, let alone win, by attempting the $1.5 million Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.



A foreign winner of the Sprint is not without precedent. It's happened once before, when Sheikh Albadou scored in 1991 at Churchill Downs. A year previously, at Belmont Park, Dayjur failed by only a neck, most likely due to a bizarre shadow-jumping incident.



Dayjur and Sheikh Albadou had little in common except that they both prepped for the Sprint in France's Prix de l'Abbaye. At about five furlongs on a straight turf course at Longchamp, the Abbaye might appear an odd prelude to a six-furlong dirt race around an American turn. Dayjur won the 1990 Abbaye, while the following year Sheikh Albadou ran second to Keen Hunter.



A beautifully bodied 3-year-old colt, Dayjur was a Kentucky-bred son of Danzig out of Gold Beauty, who was a daughter of Mr. Prospector and the champion sprinter of 1982. That was back before female sprinters had their own Eclipse Award, and Gold Beauty beat out males for the title.



Georgia Hoffmann bred Dayjur, and his bloodlines certainly indicated he could succeed in American sprints. However, he sold for $1.65 million to Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum and went to England to be trained by Major W.R. Hern.



Dayjur took a five-race winning streak into the 1990 Breeders' Cup Sprint that earned him such accolades as England's Horse of the Year, champion sprinter, and champion 3-year-old in 1990 and champion 3-year-old in France. It also made him the favorite in the Sprint despite the fact that he had never raced on dirt around an American turn.



He overcame those obstacles, only to run afoul of distractions at the finish. Dayjur had the lead in the stretch over the filly Safely Kept and then jumped not once, but twice—apparently the first time because of a shadow caused by equipment on the grandstand roof, and the second time because of the photo-finish light. Safely Kept nabbed him by a neck.

No such incident kept Sheikh Albadou from winning the Sprint the following year, though few people gave him much of a chance. He went off at 26-1, third longest on the board behind 2-5 favorite Housebuster.



Highclere Stud bred Sheikh Albadou in England. He came from the first crop of Green Desert, a son of Danzig who ran last behind Smile in the 1986 Breeders' Cup Sprint. Sheikh Albadou was out of the unraced Welsh Pageant mare Sanctuary, though he had plenty of black type in the second dam, English group winner Hiding Place, who produced five stakes winners.



Alexander Scott trained Sheikh Albadou in England for owner Hilal Salem of Dubai, who was a friend of the Maktoum family. The trainer used an Equitrack gallop at Newmarket and an all-weather track at Lingfield to prepare Sheikh Albadou for the Breeders' Cup.



"My only concerns were that he had only been around a turn twice in his life and the kickback," Scott said at the time.



Sheikh Albadou's task in the Sprint was easier because Housebuster grabbed a quarter at the start that ended with a suspensory injury in the stretch. Nevertheless, Sheikh Albadou had to defeat 10 horses with American sprint experience.



Housebuster prompted Media Plan's early pace, and when the favorite reached the lead in the stretch, he took a couple of bad steps, according to his jockey, Craig Perret. Sheikh Albadou raced five wide into the stretch, passing Housebuster. Pleasant Tap closed from last, but he couldn't catch Sheikh Albadou, who won by three lengths under Pat Eddery.

Sheikh Albadou paid $54.60, to this day the biggest winning price in the Sprint, and he was named Europe's champion sprinter. He also remains the only foreigner to win the race.



Rich Tapestry, unlike Dayjur or Sheikh Albadou, will come into the Sprint with an American victory in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (gr. I). He could become the second.