Citizen Bull Rolls in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile

SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables et al’s Citizen Bull led stablemate Gaming all the way around to post a 1 ½-length victory in the 41st running of the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Del Mar on Friday afternoon.

Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Martin Garcia, Citizen Bull covered the 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:43.07. The victory is the 19th for Baffert in the World Championships and sixth in the Juvenile. It is Garcia’s fifth Breeders’ Cup victory and second in the Juvenile with the initial victory coming in 2013 for Baffert aboard New Year’s Day.

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The complexion of the race changed right at the start as favored East Avenue stumbled at the break and was last the first time past the wire. Meanwhile up front, Citizen Bull, Gaming and a third Baffert runner, Getaway Car led the procession.

The running order of the top three did not change until late when Hill Road rallied from last to get third by a neck over Getaway Car but 3 ¼ lengths behind Gaming for the runner-up spot. East Avenue finished ninth of 10.

Citizen Bull is a 2-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Into Mischief out of the Distorted Humor mare No Joke. The victory, the third in four starts and second Grade 1 for Citizen Bull, was worth $1,040,000 and increased his earnings to $1,301,000.

Winning trainer Bob Baffert, Citizen Bull – “I told all my riders, your plan is to win the race. So they rode their horses the way they thought, Getaway Car, he has speed. We know Citizen Bull is very quick, very fast.

“Gaming, I don’t think he got away as good as he could have. I was surprised to see him laying second. And I figured they weren’t going too fast because Gaming, he was wanting to go.

“But, they went fractions that they’re supposed to run. It’s not like in the filly, Juvenile Fillies, when I saw 22 flat, if I would have had a radio, I would have called (Flavien) Prat, you might want to slow down a little bit.

“But, in order to win these races, you need a good horse. And you have to have the right trip, the right luck.”

Winning jockey Martin Garcia, Citizen Bull – “My horse was just running easy early and the other horse (Gaming) was just cruising in second. And, when it was time to go, the horse just took off.”

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., second with Gaming – “Beautiful trip. I just took second lying beside the winner. I just let my horse find his stride and if I wanted to go after him. We kept coming. He looks really, really nice to me. Maybe down the road, one or two turns, he will show what he can do.”

Trainer Adrian Murry, third with Hill Road – “I was worried halfway he wouldn’t be sighted but he ran on really impressively. We’ve always thought a lot of him and were hopefully he’d take to the dirt so we’re delighted with the run.”

Jockey Umberto Rispoli, third with Hill Road – “The intention wasn’t to be right up there because obviously you have a big shot, a 60-1. So the point was to get to one, two, three and get some good prize money. I had a good trip because on the backside I’m behind all of the favorites ahead of me. The three Bafferts went ahead and controlled the pace and it was very tough for us to make up ground. I’m very happy and pleased with the horse. I started to feel I had horse as I left the turn. Once I found a gap and I threw him in the hole, he just came and ran for me.”

Trainer Brendan Walsh, beaten favorite East Avenue – “It’s just unfortunate. Tyler (Gaffalione) said he just went to break so fast it gave out from underneath of him. From there, no one was closing. The race was over. Another day.”

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione, beaten favorite East Avenue – “Obviously, the break definitely cost us. It’s a huge disappointment. We’re very high on this horse. We just felt like we weren’t able to give him his best opportunity with the way it played out.”