Maragh lands Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (CMC):

Rajiv Maragh strolled to his 23rd stakes victory for the year in North America, when he brought Caleb's Posse from behind to impressively win the US$1-million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

The Jamaican jockey drove Caleb's Posse to a four-length victory over Preakness Stakes winner Shackleford, under Jesus Castanon, in the seventh of the 12 races on the most lucrative day in the sport worldwide.

Caleb's Posse, a three-year-old, bay colt, finished 1,600 metres on the dirt track in a nifty one minute, 34.59 seconds - 1.02 seconds off the track record set 11 years ago by Chilukki.

The victory, one of the biggest wins of Maragh's career, was his third this year on Caleb's Posse, following their victory in the US$150,000 Amsterdam Stakes on August 1 at the Saratoga Racecourse, where they also combined to win the US$250,000 Foxwoods King's Bishop Stakes about a month later, beating one of the favourites for the Breeders' Cup Classic, Uncle Mo by a nose.

Maragh said he was a bit concerned about the timing of Caleb's Posse taking over the lead.

"I really didn't want to make the lead too early," Maragh said. "He inherited the lead earlier than I expected and he just kept on going."

In the US$5-million feature Breeders' Cup Classic, jockey Mike Smith had better reasons to enjoy his victory, when he overcame former girlfriend Chantal Sutherland aboard Game On Dude to win with the 17-1 long-shot Drosselmeyer.