Hit It A Bomb Rolls Late in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf
If the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf is a portent of things to come, we’re in for an exciting Breeders’ Cup weekend. Hit It A Bomb exploded from the back of the pack and hit the wire in front by bare neck.
The field of 14 national and international two-year-olds broke in a perfect line across the yielding Keeneland lawn. Longshot MANHATTAN DAN immediately took the lead, followed by DRESSED IN HERMES and AIROFORCE. The rest of the herd bunched up behind them.
The eventual winner, Hit It A Bomb and jockey Ryan Moore, lingered in the back of the pack in thirteenth. Manhattan Dan carried the field through fractions of 23.12, 48.22, 1:13.28, and 1:25.95. In mid-stretch, Manhattan Dan had a two length lead and appeared poised to pull off the upset, but within a blink of an eye, he was passed by a charging trio of colts. Hit It A Bomb, Airoforce and BIRCHWOOD all finished within a neck of each other while CONQUEST DADDYO was 2 ½ lengths back in fourth. The winning time was 1:38.86.
HIT IT A BOMB (War Front - Liscanna (IRE), by Sadler's Wells) is trained by Aidan O’Brien, who has now conditioned three of nine Juvenile Turf winners. The colt is a homebred owned by Evelyn M. Stockwell. His victory in the Juvenile boosted Hit It A Bomb’s race record to a perfect three for three and he’s earned $599,967. Hit It A Bomb is the third foal to race and first winner for his Group 3 winning dam Liscanna, a sprinter.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” remarked winning trainer Aidan O’Brien. “He won his maiden at the Curragh very nicely. Ryan (Moore) knew him. We were always looking forward to coming to Keeneland. When we got the outside draw we were worried and when the ground changed we were also worried. Ryan said he would let him really relax, because he knew what he could do. This was always the plan he’s a real classy miler. ”
O’Brien continued, “Obviously, we're delighted with this horse. We always thought a lot of him. Obviously, Mrs. Stockwell came to the race the first day he ran and, at 92, Mrs. Stockwell came and led him in. So that's what everyone always thought of him all the time. And he won a stake and very easy next time. Today, we were very worried. Obviously, he couldn't have drawn wider. We were worried about the ground. He's a really fast ground horse. So Ryan gave him a marvelous rate. Couldn't be happier, obviously.”
The race favorite Airoforce was game in his defeat by a short head. His jockey Julien Leparoux stated, “It went good. I was sitting and then made a big run. The winner just came by us at the end. The ground is a little loose. It's not like a yielding where you go deep, but it's loose and sandy, so there's a lot of kickback.”
The victory was the ninth for trainer Aidan O’Brien and the seventh for jockey Ryan Moore. O’Brien is now ranked fourth in a tie with Bill Mott on the Breeders’ Cup leader’s board.