Accelerate shocks Arrogate in the San Diego 'Cap at Del Mar
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Photo:
Melanie Martines
The unthinkable has happened. Coming into this afternoon's TVG San Diego Handicap with a clear air of invincibility, few thought Arrogate would have any trouble adding to his seven-race winning streak in the 1 1/16-mile, Grade 2 event. But Accelerate, and perhaps Arrogate, as well, had other ideas. What unfolded today at Del Mar was a truly shocking upset, as Accelerate romped to an impressive 8 1/2-length victory, while the mighty Arrogate finished at the other end of the field.
Sent off a prohibitive favorite in the field of five, while making his first start since a powerful win in the Dubai World Cup, Arrogate broke well enough from the starting gate, but right from the beginning this race was a bit odd. El Huerfano, breaking in between the champion, to his outside, and Accelerate, on the rail, nearly went down in his first stride out of the gate. In so doing, his rider lost the irons, and had little control of the longshot.
Meanwhile, Accelerate shot right out to the lead under Victor Espinoza, while Mike Smith did not ask for early speed from the Bob Baffert trained Arrogate. With El Huerfano racing erratically on the outside, Accelerate led the small field through the first turn and into the Del Mar backstretch, while Arrogate loped along at the back of the pack.
Accelerate and Arrogate maintained their respective positions through early fractions of :23.49 and :47.06. While the world intently watched the horse in last early, expecting a run that would never come, Accelerate was full of run on the far turn and began to open up on his nearest challenger, Donworth. Still nothing came from Arrogate.
In front of a stunned Del Mar crowd, the John Sadler trained Accelerate continued to pour it on down the lane, looking every bit like he was the prohibitive favorite. Arrogate never looked like the horse we have seen for the past year, was not pushed by his Hall of Fame rider, and the shocking upset by Accelerate was complete.
“I was surprised by how far I won," explained Espinoza. "I wasn’t surprised that I did; I was here to win. I thought I’d sit second or third, but when that speed horse (El Huerfano) stumbled at the start, I made an easy lead. He (Accelerate) got in a nice rhythm; he was going easy. He’s a nice horse. This is the first time I rode him. I hope he can go on, so we can look at the (TVG) Pacific Classic.”
Final time for the 1 1/16-miles over the fast main track at Del Mar was 1:42.15. Donworth outran Cat Burglar for second place by 2 1/2-lengths, while Arrogate was another 4 1/4-lengths farther back in fourth, with only the troubled El Huerfano finishing behind the 1-20 favorite.
With the big victory in the San Diego, Accelerate raised his career record to 12-4-3-4. This was the first win in five starts in 2017 for the four-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky. Last year, though, he won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby, and finished a solid third in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Pointing for that same race again this year, the Hronis Racing runner upped his career earnings to $607,480.
Because of the overwhelming faith bettors had in Arrogate today, the payouts for the San Diego were interesting, to say the least. Accelerate, as the clear second choice, returned $17.60, $32.60, and $22.00 across the board. Donworth paid a whopping $119.80 and $67.40 to place and show, and Cat Burglar returned $38.20 to place.
As for Arrogate, his connections were not sure how to explain things after the race. “I’m at a loss for words," said Smith. "He just was flat, so flat. We were going around there OK, and then I took him outside like I did in Dubai (where he won the Dubai World Cup in his last start March 25), but he just didn’t pick it up. So I dropped him inside again and cut the corner, then wheeled him outside once more and tried to get something from him. But he was just flat. He wasn’t trying. So I just wrapped up on him and got him home safe. We’ve got to go back and start over again. Get it back right.”
The electrifying winner of the Travers, Breeders' Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup, and most recently the Dubai World Cup, seems to be okay physically, but will now have to regroup for an expected start in the million-dollar Pacific Classic in four weeks time. Perhaps today was nothing more than just a bad day.
“He was just flat," said Baffert. "I think he was just flat. I knew coming down here can be tough. Maybe I should have blown him out (down here). Mike (Smith) said he was just flat and never in the race did he feel he had any horse. The other horse (Cat Burglar) was flat, too. I thought he’d run better than that, but he just didn’t want to go. I think he (Arrogate) just laid an egg. I don’t think it had anything to do with the track. He was just flat.”
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