Further Ado wins heart-stopping duel in Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1)

Spendthrift Farm LLC’s 3-year-old colt and future stallion won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) by the narrowest of margins over Owen Almighty in the most scintillating finish on championship Saturday at Keeneland.

Either on their own or in partnership, Spendthrift has now won seven Breeders’ Cup races, topped by the Hall of Famer Beholder, who won the Juvenile Fillies (G1) and two runnings of the Distaff (G1).

Further Ado actually broke on top before settling in fourth along the fence around the first turn. Jockey Flavien Prat held his spot down the backstretch. He sat behind Full Serrano (ARG) and Owen Almighty on the final bend, then swung into the three path turning for home as Owen Almighty took the lead. The ensuing stretch battle showed both horses giving their all, with Further Ado getting the nod as they passed under the wire.

“I had no clue if we had won,” winning trainer Brad Cox said. “It looked right past the wire, the other horse had his nose down. But we had it down when it counted there at the mile distance and I’m very proud of the effort.”

“We thought we had lost it,” added Spendthrift’s Eric Gustavson before the official finish was posted. “Everybody had our heads down. The camera is ahead of the finish line, so it looked like he may have lost the bob and everybody was excited with the other horse. The camera on track was going to the jockey on the other horse, so we had resigned ourselves. And then it turned around. That was quite a roller coaster of emotions to think we had lost and then to find out that we had won.”

Further Ado has a perfect record at Keeneland, breaking his maiden by 20 lengths in the autumn of his 2-year-old season, then winning the Blue Grass S. (G1) this spring by 11 lengths. The Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) and Matt Winn S. (G3) are also on his resume. His overall record now stands at 5-2-1 in 11 starts, with earnings of $2,181,958.

“We’re going to have a sit-down with the guys,” Gustavson said of future plans for Further Ado. “We’re in the business of standing stallions, so it’s really tempting to go to the shed after this, off of a big win like that.

But we’re going to let it cool down, enjoy it for the weekend, and then we’ll talk with the team on Monday, Tuesday. We’ll talk to Brad as well, obviously, and start formulating a plan.”