Spirit One prevails in paceless Million

Spirit One powered home a wire-to-wire winner of the Million (Jim Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com) In retrospect, the Friday withdrawal of front-running Sudan (Ire) (Peintre Celebre) proved to be the turning point of Saturday’s $1 million Arlington Million (G1). Without his presence in the starting gate, French invader SPIRIT ONE (Fr) (Anabaa Blue) had few apparent rivals for early supremacy. Taking the initiative under Ioritz Mendizabal, Spirit One rattled off fractions of :24 3/5, :48 2/5, 1:12 2/5 and 1:37 2/5, and dug deep through the stretch to fend off the challenges of fellow Europeans Archipenko (Kingmambo) and Mount Nelson (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar [Ire]) to register the victory by three parts of a length. He completed 1 1/4 miles over the firm turf in 2:02, two-fifths of a second slower than the Secretariat S. (G1) for three-year-olds run earlier in the card. “I took the lead because I wanted to run my race and he responded very well for me,” Mendizabal said. “Then all I had to do was make sure he made it around the two turns, and I thank the trainer for getting him ready to do that and bringing him all the way over here to win.”

Sent off as the 13-1 fifth choice in a field of seven, Spirit One returned
$29.40, $10.20 and $6, and earned an automatic bid for the Breeders’ Cup Turf
(G1) at Santa Anita on October 25. Archipenko, the 6-5 favorite, had a
ground-saving trip throughout but did not get clear sailing in the stretch until
very late as Johnny Murtagh, aboard near 4-1 third choice Mount Nelson, kept the
public choice trapped along the inside and refused to yield for running room.
Archipenko eventually crossed the wire 1 1/2 lengths clear of Mount Nelson,
bringing back $3.40 and $2.60, while Mount Nelson gave
back $4. The exacta returned $68.40, the trifecta $264.20 and the superfecta
with near 18-1 chance Silverfoot (With Approval) paid $1,930 (3-1-7-8).

Einstein (Brz) (Spend a Buck), the 3-1 second choice, might have been a pace
factor if not for his stumble leaving the starting gate. Ultimately, he could
not overcome that disadvantage after making a five-wide bid turning for home. He
finished fifth and was followed by Arlington H. (G3) winner Stream Cat (Black
Minnaloushe) and Cloudy’s Knight (Lord Avie), the Canadian champion who was well
adrift of the leaders from start to finish.

Trained by Philippe Demercastel, Spirit One’s biggest victories had come in
the 2006 Prix des Chenes (Fr-G3) and the Prix Exbury (Fr-G3) on March 15 of this
year. He had, however, demonstrated decent form at the highest level in previous
attempts, finishing a head behind Mount Nelson in the 2006 Criterium
International (Fr-G1) and 2 1/2 lengths back of Duke of Marmalade (Danehill), a winner of four Group 1 races in Europe already this season, in the
April 27 Prix Ganay (Fr-G1). With this victory, Spirit One boosted his lifetime
earnings to $1,099,618 from a line of 18-5-6-2.

“We’ll take him home, give him time off and definitely come back to the U.S.
for racing,” Demercastel said in regards to taking a shot at the Breeders’ Cup
Turf. “I’ve been tempted for awhile, especially with this horse to try American
racing.”

Bred in France by Kamel Chehboub, who owns the colt with Boualem Chehboub, Spirit One is out
of the winning Lavayssiere (Sicyos), making him a half-brother to the multiple
stakes winner Salsalava (Kingsalsa) and the stakes-winning Salsalavie (Fly to
the Stars [GB]), who placed in the Prix la Force (Fr-G3) earlier this year.