Sword Dancer Stakes (Grade 1)

THE good news for Stephen Cainelli: there are some nice bathrooms at Del Mar. That’s where Cainelli, a retired obstetrician from Texas, found himself Saturday afternoon as the horses were loading into the gate for the $735,000 Grade 1 Sword Dancer.

Cainelli’s visit to the facilities was not prompted by his kidneys, but rather his mind.

“Each race that I’ve been physically present and watched him, he’s finished second or third. Every race I haven’t watched (live), he’s won. So I went to the bathroom,” a superstitious Cainelli said, after Gufo rallied from seven lengths back to earn an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.

The slightly favoured Gufo held off the fast-closing Japan, as Aidan O’Brien’s colt had a less than ideal trip under Ryan Moore. Japan was beaten to an opening early in the stretch by Joel Rosario aboard Gufo, which more than accounted for the neck difference at the wire.

O’Brien and Moore both remained winless at Saratoga, three weeks after Bolshoi Ballet was off the board as the 6/5 favourite in the Saratoga Derby and four years after Idaho failed as the 7/5 choice in the Sword Dancer.

Great ride

“Joel gave him a great ride,” Cainelli said. “There was an opening and he closed it. If he didn’t do that, the result could have been different.”

Down the backside, Japan tracked champion Channel Maker and the Chad Brown duo Tribhuvan and Rockemperor, three lengths clear of Gufo. Rosario made his move between Japan and Rockemperor, Moore kept Japan on the rail.

After they turned for home and Gufo had gotten first run, Moore had no choice but to move to the outside, but it was too late and Japan’s final, furious surge came up just short.

“He is a top-class horse. He’s always been a top-class horse,” trainer Christophe Clement said.

Gufo gave Clement his third Sword Dancer – joining Winchester (2011) and Honor Glide (1991) – while improving his career record to 7-2-3 from 12 starts with earnings of $1,138,510 for Cainelli, a relative newcomer to horse racing who struck lightning right from the start.

“This is the first horse I’ve ever bred and owned,” said Cainelli, who co-bred the horse with John Little.