Roy H Repeats as Champion Male Sprinter
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
Roy H is champion male sprinter a second straight year
Roy H stands alone as the only horse to win two editions of the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and two Eclipse Award male sprint titles. He follows Midnight Lute as the second horse to capture two Breeders' Cup Sprints, but Midnight Lute was voted only one championship.
"He's a very special horse to me," said trainer Peter Miller, who has guided Roy H to both championship seasons for Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen.
To win his first Eclipse title in 2017, Roy H capped the season at Del Mar with his first victory in the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint. After that, Miller said he gave Roy H a little time off at Del Mar, what the trainer called "November by the beach." Miller entered Roy H in the Feb. 3 Palos Verdes Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, resulting in an easy 3 1/2-length triumph in the six-furlong event.
Miller and the owners sent Roy H to Dubai for the March 31 Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News (G1), where he finished third to Mind Your Biscuits, a horse he had beaten in the 2017 Breeders' Cup. The trip might have cost Roy H the July 28 Bing Crosby Stakes (G1). He finished second to Ransom the Moon .
The trainer decided that Roy H might benefit from a change of scenery, from training at Santa Anita to San Luis Rey Downs.
"After Pete moved Roy H down with him, he said the horse was on tilt and doing great," Hartunian said.
Miller instituted the same end-of-year plan that had worked in 2017, prepping for the Breeders' Cup with the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1). Roy H had won the Sprint Championship by a length in 2017, and he improved that margin to 2 3/4 lengths in 2018.
"Today he brought his A game," said Miller after the Sprint Championship.
That A game remained in place for the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs. Roy H made a decisive move on the turn for jockey Paco Lopez to grab the lead and saunter home by 3 1/4 lengths over Whitmore, with favored Imperial Hint finishing third.
"It was pretty amazing to rebound after kind of a disappointing run in Dubai and the Bing Crosby to finish off the year with two grade 1s, including the Breeders' Cup," said Miller. "It just shows what kind of talent and heart he has."