When the gates flew open on Future Stars Friday at Keeneland, internationally acclaimed Irish maestro Aidan O’Brien and American Hall of Famer Bob Baffert stood shoulder to shoulder, deadlocked at the pinnacle of racing history with 21 Breeders’ Cup victories apiece. By nightfall, O’Brien had seized sole possession of the crown—but the road there was not a straight line.
The historic day turned into a dramatic, high-stakes game of leapfrog. O’Brien drew first blood in the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies Turf, where his highly touted star Sun Goddess prowled to a dominant three-length victory, securing her sixth consecutive win and an incredible fourth elite Grade/Group 1 title of the season. The triumph briefly put O’Brien in the clear, but the advantage was short-lived. Just one race later on the dirt, Baffert fired right back, answering with a powerhouse performance from undefeated and now three-time Grade 1-winner Hughes in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to lock the titans back in a dead tie.
The definitive blow was struck two races later in Breeders’ Cup Friday’s grand finale. Sweeping both of the prestigious two-turn juvenile turf events, O’Brien captured the Grade 1 Juvenile Turf as Haffner pounced late to stop the clock in 1:35.19, stamping himself as an English and Irish classic contender for next season.
Sun Goddess provided O’Brien with his fourth Juvenile Fillies Turf triumph, in what was also the daughter of Sioux Nation’s sixth win in three different nations. She rated a close second down the backstretch, tracking the speedy early foot of Seneca Park. Exploding away from her rivals in midstretch, the brilliant daughter of Sioux Nation opened up a commanding two-and-a-half-length cushion before crossing the wire a dominant three-length winner in a swift 1:36.10 on the firm turf. A furious late surge from Green Empress, trained by O’Brien’s son Joseph, fresh off her elite triumph in the Prix Marcel Boussac, proved futile, failing to pose any serious threat to the winner’s absolute supremacy.
Baffert responded immediately to tie the all-time Breeders’ Cup record, securing his seventh personal victory in the race with Hughes. Now undefeated in five career starts, the son of Into Mischief locked up the Eclipse Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Male, adding this championship triumph to his previous dominant Grade 1 wins in the Del Mar Futurity and American Pharoah Stakes. During the running, Hughes tracked comfortably in second just behind the moderate pace set by Damavand. He surged ahead turning for home and drew clear to a 2 ¼-length victory over recent Breeders’ Futurity winner American History, with his graded stakes-winning stablemate Getaway Car completing the finish.
Locked in a 22-win tie with Baffert, Aidan O’Brien had two opportunities in the Juvenile Turf to reclaim his short-lived standalone lead. One of his top contenders was Haffner, coming fresh off a one-mile victory in the Group 2 Royal Lodge at Newmarket. Mimicking the stalk-and-pounce tactics used by stablemate Sun Goddess two races prior, Haffner powered away to a 1 ¾-length victory to finish O’Brien’s day on a high note. The race also marked the second O’Brien father-son exacta of the card, as Joseph O’Brien’s Group 1 winner, Green Empress, rallied strongly to secure second place.
O’Brien now boasts 23 Breeders’ Cup victories to Baffert’s 22. With Splendora scratched out of the Distaff and Nooni out of the Filly and Mare Sprint, he can do no more than tie O’Brien’s record with Grade 1-winner Explora in the Filly and Mare Sprint. On the other hand, O’Brien has many chances to extend his advantage with Precise (Filly and Mare Turf), Puerto Rico (Mile), True Love (Mile), Diamond Necklace (Turf), and Benvenuto Cellini (Turf).
