Hansen bounded out of the gate and took a good field of juvenile colts gate-to-wire in the 28th renewal of the $2,000,000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) this afternoon at Churchill Downs, likely sewing up the division championship in the process.
Under Ramon Dominguez, the Miker Maker-trained grey juvenile went straight to the lead and opened up a clear advantage through fractions of :23.26 and :47.39. No one was close to him in the early stages, although Creative Cause wasn't all that far behind. Favored Union Rags was hung wide on the first turn, while the well-bet Drill was far behind, while Dullahan was dead last and some fifteen lengths off of the pace.
Turning into the homestretch Hansen was confronted by Creative Cause and Union Rags, but kicked clear of them both for a brief moment. But both of his challengers had more left, and both began to narrow the gap again. Union Rags, who had taken the second turn four wide as well, drifted outward and then inward in the stretch but gamely closed in under Javier Castellano. In a photo finish, Hansen held him off to win by a head in 1:44.44.
It was a length further back to Creative Cause in third, who just held off the late-running Dullahan for that spot.
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