T O Elvis catches Englishman late to win Breeders’ Cup Sprint for Japan

T O Elvis delivered a Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory for Japan at Keeneland on Saturday, catching Englishman close to the finish under Ryusei Sakai. The Japanese-trained runner won the six-furlong Grade One on dirt ahead of Englishman and Liam Smith in a field of 13, according to the Guardian’s live reporting from the meeting.

Englishman broke quickly but raced three wide in the early stages before settling in second behind Liam Smith. The favourite subsequently passed the leader and appeared to have established a strong position in the stretch. The Guardian’s race commentary described Englishman as two lengths clear halfway down the straight, with T O Elvis still having ground to recover.

Sakai’s mount produced the decisive late challenge. The Guardian reported that T O Elvis had been at least eight lengths behind when Englishman took the lead two furlongs out, but continued closing through the stretch and moved ahead just two strides before the winning post. Liam Smith kept going after being overtaken to secure third place rather than dropping out of contention.

The result extended a winning sequence for T O Elvis, who had arrived with victories in his previous five starts. His most recent appearance before the Breeders’ Cup had been a win at Churchill Downs in May. At Keeneland he started from stall 11, two places closer to the rail than Englishman, who had been drawn in stall 13.

Englishman had also brought strong recent form into the race. The Cherie DeVaux-trained three-year-old had won three of his four starts during the season, including the seven-furlong H Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga on his previous outing. Third-placed Liam Smith, trained by Peter Miller, had progressed through claiming races and arrived after a victory at Santa Anita.

The Sprint gave Japan a major dirt-race success on a card that later ended in disappointment for Forever Young. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner finished fifth as Sovereignty took the meeting’s most valuable race. For Sakai and T O Elvis, however, the Sprint had already produced a victory secured by the strength of their finish.