California-bred Unrivaled Time proved his class in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) Nov. 30 at Del Mar, winning the one-mile race by 3/4 lengths.
The 2-year-old son of Not This Time broke alertly under Diego Herrera and settled midpack behind the pacesetters Proton and Track Tiger through fractions of :22.97, :47.52, and 1:12.16. Race favorite Hey Nay Nay was well-controlled near the back of the pack, sitting 3 1/2 lengths off the lead after a half mile under Flavien Prat.
Track Tiger drew away from Proton into the far turn, but Proton regained momentum and took back the lead in the stretch as Unrivaled Time and Hey Nay Nay were unleashing their bids.
Splitting horses in the stretch, Unrivaled Time surged ahead in the final stages and held off a late rally from Iriseach, who finished a neck ahead of third-place finisher Hey Nay Nay, in a final time of 1:36.42. The stewards posted an inquiry and reviewed Unrivaled Time drifting outward into Hey Nay Nay's path in late stretch, but made no change.
"He just kept showing signs of improvement over the summer," Herrera said of Unrivaled Time. "I just wanted to make sure he was in a good comfortable rhythm. The horse on the outside (Hey Nay Nay) was coming in, you know, he bumped me a little bit coming into the stretch and I was just trying to keep my horse as straight as possible. The sky is the limit for him. He just wants to get out there and run. You know, today he showed a lot of maturing. We had a couple of horses moving from inside to outside."
Trained by Leonard Powell, Unrivaled Time was coming off a 4 1/2-length win in a California-bred maiden special weight Oct. 19 at Santa Anita Park.
"I was very happy with our position early on and very happy with how the race unfolded," Powell said. "He let a couple of speed horses go for it and settled, then came with one run like he did when he broke his maiden. He broke his maiden against Cal-breds and the question mark was is he good enough to step up and the answer is yes."
Unrivaled Time paid $13 to win.
He was bred by Alfred Pais, who campaigns the juvenile in partnership with Innergy Racing.
Video: Cecil B. DeMille S. (G3T)
Hope Road Repeats in Bayakoa Stakes
Cicero Farms' homebred Hope Road returned to form with a repeat win in the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for fillies and mares, becoming a millionaire in the process.
Jockey Juan Hernandez guided the daughter of Quality Road into a stalking position behind the pacesetting Simply Joking, who led through splits of :23.15, :47.32, and 1:11.46. Hope Road made her move coming into the stretch and cruised home to win by 6 1/2 lengths in a final time of 1:36.38. Simply Joking settled for second, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Mahina in third.
"She is really good out of the gate," Hernandez said. "She broke running, when I asked her to go, she listened. She relaxed very good. Bob (Baffert) was working on her to relax. He did a really good job, and you know, all the credit goes to the filly, because she relaxed and was tracking the horse in front of me just waiting for me to shake the reins. We had a great trip."
Hope Road came into the race off a distant third place finish in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), where she finished 6 lengths behind Splendora and Vahva. Prior to that, she was a 2-length winner of the Ballerina Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course over eventual Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Scylla.
“She had already gone two turns before and she handled the two turns again," said assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes. "I think it depends on the level of the competition. Maybe it’s Del Mar she likes. She ran just how we expected her to run.”
The Bob Baffert trainee paid $2.80 to win.
