In one of the most stunning upsets of recent years, Juddmonte Farms’ Arrogate, the 1-20 favorite and the richest Thoroughbred in North American racing history, struggled home a badly beaten fourth as Accelerate won the featured $300,000 TVG San Diego Handicap Saturday at Del Mar.
Accelerate, piloted by Victor Espinoza, sped to the front shortly after the break and never was seriously threatened as he cruised to an eight and one-half length victory while Arrogate, under regular rider Mike Smith, labored home fifteen and one-quarter lengths behind the winner.
Accelerate was second choice in the five-horse field, going postward at 7-1. Runner-up Donworth was sent off at 24-1, while third place Cat Burglar was an 18-1 outsider. As a result, the payoffs were Accelerate returned $17.60 to win, $32.60 to place and $22 to show. Donworth paid $119.80 to place and $67.40 to show, breaking the payoff records of $101.60 and $40.20 set by Cipria in 1955. Cat Burglar, a stablemate of Arrogate from the barn of Bob Baffert, paid $38.20 to show.
Accelerate, a four-year-old son of Lookin at Lucky owned by Hronis Racing and trained by John Sadler, scored his fourth win in 12 starts and first money of $180,000 increased his lifetime bankroll to $607,480. Final time for the mile and one-sixteenth was 1:42.15. Ironically, in Arrogate’s career debut,April 17 of 2016, at Los Alamitos Race Course, Accelerate beat Arrogate by a neck as he was second in a maiden race won by Westbrook.
Arrogate dropped back to last shortly after the start and trailed the field into the far turn where he began to advance. However, his rally was brief as he flattened out badly in the stretch.
Accelerate carried 117 pounds, nine pounds less than Arrogate, winner of seven races consecutively and more than $17 million, including victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Pegasus World Cup Invitational and Dubai World Cup, his most recent outing March 25 at Meydan in the United Arab Emirates.
In the afternoon’s supporting feature, the Grade II $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes at nine furlongs on the grass, 3-1 second choice Hunt sliced between horses in the upper stretch for running room and then outfinished 3-5 favorite Ashleyluvssugar to win by a length in 1:47.62. Flavien Prat was aboard the winner, an Irish-bred son Dark Angel owned by Michael House and trained by Phil D’Amato.
Longshot Mr. Roary was third, a half-length behind Ashleyluvssugar, who finished second in the Read for the second year in a row. Kenjisstorm was fourth in the field of seven entrants.
Hunt provided D’Amato with his second straight Read success, the trainer sending out Midnight Storm to defeat Ashleyluvssugar last summer.
Hunt earned $150,000 with his sixth win in 22 career efforts and now has a bankroll of $398,419. In the mutuels, he returned $8.60, $3.40 and $2.80. Ashleyluvssugar, who was piloted by Gary Stevens, returned $2.20 and $2.10, while Mr. Roary paid $5.40 to show.
VICTOR ESPINOZA (Accelerate, winner) – “I was surprised by how far I won (8-1/2 lengths) . 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 (August 19, 1-1/4 miles).”
MARIO GUTIERREZ (Donworth, second) – “Good try for him. Good try.”
RAFAEL BEJARANO (Cat Burglar, third) – “The loose horse (El Huerfano, who was running off with rider Evin Roman as he struggled to get back in his irons after his horse stumbled at the break) bothered me most of the way around there. I had to use my horse to stay away from him. He (Cat Burglar) could have run better.”
MIKE SMITH (Arrogate, fourth) – “I’m at a loss for words. 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.”
EVIN ROMAN (El Huerfano, fifth) – “He just stumbled badly at the start. I thought he was going down. Then I had a hard time getting back in the irons (It took him almost a half-mile to do so.)
JOHN SADLER, (Accelerate, winner) – “He liked this track last year; you know he won two here last year. He trained really well Sunday up at Santa Anita and showed a lot of pop when Victor worked him from the gate and they kept telling me it was $50,000 for second. You want to win, you don’t want to concede anything, but I’m surprised we won because Arrogate is the best horse in the world. A couple of things went right for us and one of them was that Arrogate didn’t fire his best. That’s what has to happen for these big upsets.”
BOB BAFFERT (Arrogate, fourth, Cat Burglar, third) – “He was just flat. 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.”
FRACTIONS: :23.49 :47.06 1:11.39 1:35.78 1:42.15
The stakes win was the first of the meet for rider Espinoza, but his sixth in the San Diego. He now has 91 stakes wins at Del Mar, eighth-best all time.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Sadler, but his third in the San Diego. He now has 56 stakes wins at Del Mar, sixth best.
The owners of Accelerate are brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis of Delano, CA.
Favorite Arrogate was 1-20 in the betting, .5-cents on the dollar.
The place and show price on second-place finisher Donworth set Del Mar records. Donworth paid $119.80 to place and $67.40 to show. Those marks eclipse the standards set previously by Cipria in 1955 of $101.60 to place and $40.20 to show.