Sports

Ryan Moore wins record sixth Breeders' Cup Turf on Benvenuto Cellini

Aoife KirwanPublished 5m ago2 min readBased on 6 sources
Ryan Moore wins record sixth Breeders' Cup Turf on Benvenuto Cellini
Photo by nakashi from Chofu, Tokyo, JAPAN / CC BY-SA 2.0

Ryan Moore has won the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland in Kentucky for a record sixth time. He rode Benvenuto Cellini to victory on Saturday 31 October, according to BBC Sport.

The Turf is a race on grass, run over 1 1/2 miles, and 14 horses lined up for it. Benvenuto Cellini started as the 3-1 favourite, meaning the betting market expected him to win most. He was held up at the back for much of the race. Then, in the closing stretch (the final run to the finish), he burst through the pack.

He beat Map Of Stars by three-quarters of a length. James Doyle rode Map Of Stars into second. Diamond Necklace finished third. The winning time was 2 minutes 27.50 seconds, according to Truenicks.

Betting prices were set by the tote, the pool system in which everyone's stakes are combined. Breeders' Cup results show Benvenuto Cellini paid $8.52 for a $2 win bet. A place bet pays if the horse finishes first or second, and it paid $6.32. A show bet pays for a top-three finish, and it paid $4.60.

Aidan O'Brien also made history. The trainer's eighth win in the Turf extends his own record for the race. Moore and O'Brien have been partners on the big stage for years, and the result adds to a long run of success in one of the sport's biggest international days.

There is a family link too. Benvenuto Cellini's dam (his mother) Newspaperofrecord won the Breeders' Cup herself in 2018. Few horses carry that kind of pedigree to a race like this, and the connection gives the win a personal thread for the breeding world.

The same meeting also crowned a Classic winner. Junior Alvarado rode Sovereignty to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, the meeting's marquee race, for trainer Bill Mott. Forever Young finished fifth in that race.

For the people who work these horses, this was a day that began long before the cameras arrived. Grooms, stable staff and travelling crews spend weeks getting a horse to its peak. On Saturday, that work showed in a late burst up the straight at Keeneland.

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