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Chavez finally puts something into Cup

Nov. 6, 1999 5:06 PM
AP

Will be UPDATED after Classic By ED SCHUYLER JR.

AP Racing Writer

HALLANDALE, Fla. (AP) Jorge Chavez poured two wins into what had been an empty Breeders' Cup at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.

After going 0-for-19 in his previous Cup rides, Chavez opened the program by guiding Beautiful Pleasure to a front-running victory in the Distaff as trainer Bob Baffert's favored Silverbulletday lost a second straight race for the first time in her career.

Chavez's second win came when Artax won the six-furlong Sprint, equaling a Gulfstream Park track record of 1:07 4-5.

"I'm living the American Dream right now," said the 37-year-old Chavez, a native of Peru, who finished last on Quiet Resolve in the Mile on the grass. His only other mount was on Behrens in the $4 million Classic, the eighth and final Breeders' Cup race of the day.

Jerry Bailey boosted his number of winning Breeders' Cup rides to nine with Cash Run in the Juvenile Fillies and Soaring Softly in the Filly & Mare Turf.

Baffert's other two favorites also lost.

Chilukki, lost for the first time in her seven-race career when she finished second 1 1-4 lengths behind the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Cash Run. The winner paid $67, a Juvenile Fillies record.

Forest Camp took the lead entering the final turn, but faded and finished sixth in the Juvenile won by Anees, who paid $62.60, also the biggest price ever for a Juvenile winner. The winner was clocked at 1:42 1-5 over 1 1-16 miles and was trained by Alex Hassinger Jr., a nephew of John Gaines, a creator of the Breeders' Cup.

Baffert got another second when Tuzla, a 13-1 shot finished a neck behind Silic in the Mile on the grass.

Beautiful Pleasure ($8) clinched the older filly and mare championship by beating Banshee Breeze by 3 lengths in the 1 1-8-mile Distaff in 1:47 2-5 for her third straight win. Heritage of Gold was third.

Banshee Breeze needed to be hosed down after the race when she suffered what trainer Carl Nafzger called a slight heat stroke. Nafzger said she was OK after she got back to her barn.

Silverbulletday, ridden by Bailey, who had clinched the 3-year-old filly title, was second with three-eighths-mile remaining, then faded.

Cash Run, was considered the weaker of Lukas' two starters in the Juvenile Fillies. The triumph was the 14th in Cup races and the fourth in the Juvenile Fillies for Lukas.

Cash Run completed the 1 1-16-mile in 1:43 1-5 in beating Chilukki, who finished a half-length ahead of the Lukas-trained Surfside.

Anees, ridden by Gary Stevens, was far back on the final turn, but came flying down the stretch to pass Chief Seattle and High Yield, He beat Chief Seattle by 2 1-2 lengths, with High Yield another three-quarters lengths back.

Asked if Anees would now be the Kentucky Derby favorite, the California-based colt's owner, Prince Ahmed Salman of Saudi Arabia, said: "Absolutely."

Artax ($9.40) took the lead on the turn and held off Kona Gold by a half-length, with Big Jag another length back in the Sprint.

The Mile was a real cavalry charge, with the first five finishers bunched within a length. Silic ($16.40), ridden by Corey Nakatani, was four wide entering the stretch, then charged into the lead inside the sixteenth pole and beat Tuzla by a neck. Docksider was another head back.

Silic is a French-bred colt, trained by Julio Canari, a native of Peru based in California, and has been racing in the United States since last November.

Soaring Softly ($9.20), trained by Jimmy Toner, who lost three horses in a barn fire at Belmont Park in June, took the lead from Coretta nearing the wire and beat her by three-quarters. Zomaradah was another head back.

"It's been a trying year, but today makes it all worthwhile," Toner said. "She's kept us going. Thank God for her."

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