Shanghai Bobby digs deep to win Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Favored Shanghai Bobby had to fight hard, but got the job done on Saturday in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I), holding off a challenge from He's Had Enough to win the race by a head and sew up the juvenile championship in the process.

Ridden to victory by Rosie Napravnik, Shanghai Bobby didn't get off to the best of starts, but recovered to track Title Contender around the first turn and down the backstretch through quick fractions of :45.55 and 1:10.28. Speak Logistics was also fairly close to the pace, followed then by Monument, Fortify, He's Had Enough, Power Broker, and Capo Bastone.

Coming off the final turn, Napravnik asked her mount for run, and Shanghai Bobby responded by bursting clear of Title Contender and opening up a clear advantage. However, a side effect of this bold run was that Shanghai Bobby completely lost his focus, allowing He's Had Enough to get right up along side him and challenge for the lead. Fortunately, Shanghai Bobby dug back in to preserve the victory while stopping the clock in 1:44.58 seconds.

Disappointing was Power Broker, who got hung wide around the turn before failing to present a challenge. Capo Bastone made a nice middle move to reach contention, but failed to match strides with the top two in the stretch while finishing up third. Fortify rounded out the top four.

The winner is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Starlight Racing.

-Keelerman