Aloha West nips Dr. Schivel at wire to upset 2021 BC Sprint
Del Mar, Calif.
Never mind a nose. That is what the chart said the margin of victory was in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Really, it was the twinkle of an eye that separated Aloha West (11-1) from Dr. Schivel (4-1) at the end of the six furlongs. José Ortiz made up five places and four lengths with a wide trip in the stretch, and Aloha West got the better of the photo finish.
“I don’t ride here on a daily basis,” Ortiz said. “I just ride hard three, four jumps past the wire. When we hit the wire I thought I had it, but I wasn’t sure.”
Neither was Flavien Prat, who rode Dr. Schivel into the lead, brushing past Special Reserve (10-1) and turning into the stretch with a half-length edge that was finally erased on the last stride of the race.
“I had no clue,” Prat said. “We had a good trip. He ran a great race. It’s frustrating to get beat right at the wire, but that’s racing.”
Racing, indeed. A sport that can turn a 4-year-old February debutant into a November star, one who had never won a stakes before.
“That takes master horsemanship to be able to accomplish something that monumental,” said owner Aron Wellman of Phoenix Thoroughbreds, who heaped praise on trainer Wayne Catalano. “Two weeks ago, when this horse worked at Keeneland after he was second in the Phoenix (G2), he told me, ‘This might be the best horse I’ve ever had my hands on.’ So we were coming with all kinds of confidence.”
Where it was the first Breeders’ Cup win for Wellman, it was the fourth for Catalano – but his first in 10 years with his first starter in the championships since 2013.
“He runs incredible as everybody knows,” Catalano said. “He was training lights out on the way up to this race. He was training like a horse should train.”
Behind Aloha West and Dr. Schivel, Following Sea (20-1) was 1 1/2 lengths up the track in third. Special Reserve was another three-quarters of a length back in fourth.
Post-time favorite Jackie’s Warrior (1-2) set the early pace, clocked at 21.91 and 44.11 seconds for the first two quarters. When he was passed at the five-sixteenths pole, Joel Rosario found another gear and kept up with Dr. Schivel at the top of the stretch before fading to finish sixth. Last year Jackie’s Warrior was a 9-10 favorite who withered late and finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
C Z Rocket (19-1), Firenze Fire (28-1) and Lexitonian (27-1) finished seventh through ninth in that order.
After he was shuffled coming out of the gate, Aloha West, a Hard Spun colt, was clocked at 1:08.49 for the six furlongs on a fast main track, only the 15th fastest in the 38 runnings of the Sprint.
For Ortiz, the important part of the ride began two-thirds of the way through the race.
“I was very happy when we hit the quarter pole,” he said, “but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be good enough to catch (Dr. Schivel), because they had a very good horse in front of me. He was the best horse early, so I decided to swing wide. My horse, he gave me a great kick.”
In Catalano’s mind, Ortiz improved on the neck loss to Special Reserve last month at Keeneland in Aloha West’s graded-stakes debut, getting his second consecutive Beyer Speed Figure of at least 100.
“José today,” Catalano said, “he made up for the last round.”
The full order of finish was: Aloha West, Dr. Schivel, Following Sea, Special Reserve, Matera Sky, Jackie's Warrior, C Z Rocket, Firenze Fire, and Lexitonian.