Powerful performance in the Breeders' Cup Sprint

Bill Mott-trained Elite Power produced a strong closing run down the centre of the track to take the Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 6th November 2022, by Steve Sherack:

Elite Power (Curlin) came storming down the center of the course with massive strides to blow past longshot C Z Rocket and heavily favoured champion Jackie's Warrior to capture Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. The 5-1 winner punched his ticket to the bluegrass with a visually impressive score in Belmont's seven-furlong Gr.2 Vosburgh Stakes.

"The cut back today was always a little concerning when you are running against a horse as good as Jackie's Warrior but hey, he come down in the middle of the racetrack and ran them all down." Hall of Famer Mott said after saddling his 12th winner at the Championships.

Seventh as 41-1 longshot Super Ocho led with Jackie's Warrior sitting the trip in second through an opening quarter in :22.12, Elite Power appeared to have his work cut out for him as they approached the quarter pole. Super Ocho cornered very wide and forced Jackie's Warrior into the six path, but the 3-5 favorite still had dead aim. Elite Power was just getting warmed up though. Irad Ortiz, Jr. tipped the blaze-faced chestnut out into the clear and he came over the top like an absolute freight train down the lane to win going away by a length and a quarter.

Elite Power has been perfect in five attempts since kicking off the 2022 season with a third-place finish behind the promising 'Rising Star' Strobe at Churchill on Derby Day. A nine-length maiden winner beneath the Twin Spires on 5th June, he added two more victories in come-from-behind fashion, capturing a first-level allowance going a mile in Louisville on 30th June and an optional claimer going six furlongs at Saratoga in September. The deep closer showed a new dimension last time in the five-horse field Vosburgh, sitting right on the pace in a race lacking any true early speed.

"I had the perfect trip," Ortiz, Jr. said of his third Breeders' Cup win of the weekend and 17th overall at the Championships. "He broke real sharp and I let him settle. I let the speed go. I was able to cut the corner around the turn. When I tipped him out, he was there for me. He kept going forward. He gave me a really good kick from the quarter-pole to the wire. He's a nice horse. I rode him with a lot of confidence."