A Prayer for the World Cup Nine
Team North and South America (NASA) took home the Sim World Cup Nine winner’s trophy courtesy of Pazbarn’s Triple A Prayer. The 3yo colt established himself as one of the top 3yos dirt classic colts with a superb performance that saw him win the race by a length and a half. Team Far East/New Zealand/Australia (FENZA) also earned a bunch of points in the World Cup competition by taking second and third place with Be Auror Song and Louis Cielo respectively.
Prerace, all eyes were on the three cofaves: Intergalactic (Team FENZA), Fly For Buda (Team NASA), and Privileged (Team NASA). The trio collectively are three of the best nine furlong horses running today, and the rare showdown promised to be a special treat for racegoers. Alas, the youngsters stole the show.
Despite breaking from post 11 in the 12-horse field, jockey B Renfroe was determined to get his mount, Be Auror Song, to the lead. He urged the 3yo out of the gate and quickly slid over to the rail. Fly For Buda followed him, moving into second, tucking in a couple of lengths behind Song as Triple A Prayer settled in to run just off Fly’s flank. Northern Bullet fell in line just to Triple A’s outside. At the first call, it was another length back to Speightsband, and yet one more back to Formulated Risk and Louis Cielo. Hemipshere, Waymart, Intergalactic, Privileged, and Roll With it rounded out the field. By the second call, the order was exactly the same. Third cal, similar story, except Triple A Prayer had overtaken Fly For Buda as the older horse started to tire.
Rounding the far turn, however, the fun began. Be Auror Song was holding a 3 1/2 length lead going into the turn, but Triple A Prayer was on the move followed closely by Louis Cielo. Hemisphere was moving along well with big sweeping stride with Privileged tearing up the track as he switched leads and accelerated off the turn, with Formulated Risk chasing him hard. Northern Bullet and Speightsband made half-hearted moves to close a bit of ground, but didn’t have the energy to make a real difference.
Halfway down the stretch Be Auror Song gave way to Triple A Prayer, and never regained the lead. Triple A swept under the wire a length and a quarter ahead of Song, who still had the goods to hold off Louis Cielo by a length. Hemipshere got up for fourth just a quarter length ahead of Privileged.
The final time of 1:47.3 earned Triple A Prayer a 110SP. He paid $30.50 to win, the exacta paid $751.40. It was the Aldeberan colt’s first G1 victory, and eighth win from 20 starts. Triple A is the third offspring of G-ranked mare A.P. News. Bred by Pazjazz, the colt is now ranked #7 in the 3yo colts dirt classic division and will be on the entry bubble for the upcoming Breeders Bowl Classic.