Drefong Dominates in the Breeders' Cup Sprint
Drefong blazed a trail from the start, repelled multiple challenges from the competition, and was brilliant in victory to take the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G-1) at Santa Anita. Breaking from post 2, Drefong popped out of the gate and jockey Martin Garcia soon moved him up the rail and into a 3-way battle for the lead with Delta Bluesman and race favorite Masochistic 3-wide.
After poking a head in front after the first quarter mile in 21.49 seconds, Drefong and Masochistic began to inch away from Delta Bluesman, going nose to nose in a dazzling half mile in 44.03 seconds.
“We drew a great post down the inside. My horse likes to run on the lead and ran hard every step of the way. I’m thankful for this opportunity, especially on a day like this. I am glad to get this win for the team,”Garcia said.
As they turned for home, it appeared to be a ding-dong dual down to the wire, but at the 1/16th pole Masochistic started to tire and Drefong spurted away, but looming was another 3-year-old, Mind Your Biscuits. While the challenge seemed serious for a split second, Drefong kept enough energy in reserve and powered home to victory by 1 ¼ lengths in a snappy time of 1:08.79.
“What a racehorse. What a race. He’s been getting better and better, but we didn’t know how fast he was. He had trained so well coming into this race I thought he was peaking. When I saw him in the paddock I just knew he was going to get it done," trainer Bob Baffert said.
A photo was needed to determine Masochistic and Mike Smith had nosed out New-York bred, Mind Your Biscuits for second. “My horse ran dynamite but Drefong was tremendous. I wish there was something I could have done differently but Drefong just kept running. Everytime I thought I would go get away, there he was again,” Smith said.
Mind Your Biscuits was trying to giving trainer Robert Falcone Jr. his first Breeders’ Cup win with his first starter in the Championship. “He ran great. All respect to the two horses that beat us. He ran the race he needed to run and showed he’s competitive in here,” Falcone Jr. said.
With the win, the three-year-old son of Gio Ponti becomes the eighth sophomore runner to capture the Sprint and gave Baffert a record 5th win in the race. Drefong was the first starter in the Championships for owner Baoma Corporation, and were rewarded with $825,000. Supporters of Drefong received $9.80 at the windows.