The Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore tandem completed a Breeders’ Cup Friday double when Henri Matisse exploded late in the $920,000 Juvenile Turf (G1), about an hour after Lake Victoria starred in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).
Henri Matisse handed O’Brien his 20th career Breeders’ Cup victory, tying the all-time record held by living legend D. Wayne Lukas.
“It’s incredible, obviously, and we all know what an unbelievably special man Wayne is,” O’Brien said. “I’m honored to equal his record. He’s the most special man and always been such a help to us.”
Not as heavily favored as Lake Victoria, Henri Matisse went off as a lukewarm 3.90-1 choice. The son of Wootton Bassett and multiple Group 1-winning miler Immortal Verse was coming off a pair of losses.
Henri Matisse’s recent fifth in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (G1) on Arc Day could be excused due to a misfire in first-time blinkers, early trouble, and the soft ground. But two starts back, he threw away a likely win in the Vincent O’Brien National (G1) by wandering around the course, again revealing his babyish tendencies.
There was no waywardness at Del Mar, where Henri Matisse took the blinkers off and uncorked a withering rally to deny the 29-1 Iron Man Cal. Drawn widest of all in post 12, the bay was off a beat slow and anchored near the rear as pacesetting Dream On rattled off splits of :22.65, :46.31, and 1:10.50.
Dream On continued to maintain a daylight lead into midstretch, when a near-disastrous incident occurred. Al Qudra tried to close between Seagulls Eleven and New Century, but the seam was vanishing, and bumping ensued. In tight quarters, Al Qudra clipped heels badly, and jockey James Doyle lost his right stirrup.
Henri Matisse avoided the trouble because he took the overland route, while Iron Man Cal got through to the inside of the fracas. Those two flashed past the weakening Dream On, and Henri Matisse forced his neck in front of Iron Man Cal at the wire, paying $9.80 to win.
The winner’s time for the mile, 1:34.48, was about a tick slower than stablemate Lake Victoria’s 1:34.28 in the companion race.
“He was very easy today and did it beautifully,” Moore recapped. “We’ve been learning about him. He needed stepping up to a mile on a turning track, and some nice ground helped him.
“We’ve just had to figure him out a little bit, and I said to Aidan before the race, I thought he was by far the best horse in the race, and he’s done it easily. He just traveled into it. I was wide on the bend, but he just took me there very comfortably.”
Iron Man Cal proved worthy of his namesake, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, with his close second.
“The other horse (Henri Matisse) came from the outside and he passed me,” jockey Antonio Fresu said, “but he (Iron Man Cal) actually fought back and was coming back at him. I think the horse showed a lot of maturity and talent today.”
Aomori City, who broke through the gate prior to the start, flew from last to snatch third, another half-length adrift.
“He ran super,” said Godolphin jockey William Buick, who chose Aomori City over stablemate Al Qudra. “It probably didn’t help that he hit the gate and broke through. He didn’t travel as well as I expected, but maybe that’s because he broke through the gate. It was a good run from a wide gate, and we knew he was sitting on a good run. Maybe with a good draw and different gate situation, he could have won the race.”
New Century edged Dream On for fourth, followed by Noble Confessor, Zulu Kingdom, Al Qudra, Satono Carnaval, Seagulls Eleven, The Waco Kid, and a tailed-off Mentee.
The stewards conducted an inquiry into Al Qudra’s misfortune. In a unanimous decision, they ruled that the result should stand because he had insufficient room to split rivals.
Minaret Station, Tenacious Leader, Sabertooth, and Kale’s Angel were all withdrawn. The latter two ran in the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance S. on the undercard and wound up seventh and 11th, respectively.
Henri Matisse’s scorecard stands at 6-4-1-0 with approximately $788,037 in earnings. Campaigned by Merriebelle Stable with Coolmore partners Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Mrs. John Magnier, he won his first three starts, including the Railway (G2) and Futurity (G2).
Now that Henri Matisse’s mind is catching up to his body, he will rank as a leading contender for the mile classics next spring.
The Irish-bred colt is the third major winner produced by Immortal Verse. The Pivotal mare is also responsible for multiple Group 1 vixen Tenebrism and Group 2 scorer Statuette, who won both of her career starts.
Statuette is by Justify, sire of City of Troy, who will try to give O’Brien a long-sought first victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Saturday.
In commenting on his 20th Breeders’ Cup win and the tie with Lukas, O’Brien revealed how the Hall of Famer offered his assistance with their Classic hopes of both past and present.
“He rang me during the week and he spoke to me about this track and the way to ride — what to do and what not to do. He was explaining about the Classic and the way he thought we should ride it, so we feel very grateful and privileged that he was so good to tell us everything — honored, really.”
O’Brien reminisced about how Lukas helped with Giant’s Causeway, who came so close to Tiznow in the 2000 Classic.
“I remember Wayne came down to us and told us what to do about the pony and then just said, ’no, I’ll come down and (pony Giant’s Causeway) for you’ and that was back during Giant’s Causeway’s time — and ever since, he’s been such a help to us. We were just so grateful to him, really; what a special man.”
Check out 2024 Breeders’ Cup News and Notes from TwinSpires.com.
