T O Elvis Beats Favored Englishman to Win Breeders Cup Sprint at Keeneland, Giving Japan Its First Win of the Weekend

T O Elvis won the Grade 1 Cygames Breeders Cup Sprint at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday, beating favored Englishman in the final strides. The race was run over six furlongs for a $2 million purse and the final time was 1:08.20, according to Thoroughbred Daily News and the Louisville Courier Journal.

T O Elvis was ridden by Ryusei Sakai and trained by Daisuke Takayanagi for owner Tomoya Ozasa. He paid $7.58 on a $2 win wager. Englishman, the 4-5 favorite trained by Cherie DeVaux, finished second, and Liam Smith finished third. USA Today listed the same order of finish.

The FanDuel Racing crew, quoted by Thoroughbred Daily News, called the winner "The sprinter version of Forever Young!"

How the race was won

T O Elvis, a 4-year-old colt by Volatile out of Stopshoppingdebbie by Curlin, was the 5-2 second choice. He raced near the back early, with only two horses behind him.

Liam Smith led Englishman through fractions of 21.68 and 44.42 seconds. T O Elvis then charged wide down the center of the course, cleared traffic at the furlong pole, and passed Englishman in the final sixteenth.

That late run gave Japan its first Breeders Cup win of the weekend.

A streak that goes back to May

The win kept a long streak going. T O Elvis is now 7 wins, no seconds and 3 thirds in 10 career starts, and he has won six races in a row.

Four of the wins in the streak came in his native Japan. He then won the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths on the Kentucky Derby undercard on May 2. He had not raced since that win before Saturday, so the Sprint was his first start in close to six months and he won it against the favorite.

A horse coming off that kind of layoff needs to be ready on the day. T O Elvis was, and his wide charge down the center of the course was the run that decided the richest sprint of the weekend.

The order at the wire was clear even if the finish was late. T O Elvis first, Englishman second, Liam Smith third, in a race where the favorite led the chase for most of the way and the second choice only got in front in the final sixteenth.