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SHARED ACCOUNT

FILLY & MARE TURFFILLY & MARE TURF 2010 Breeders’ cup

The 46-1 Shared Account (inside) gets the better of favorite and defending champ Midday in the Filly & Mare Turf

B y T r a c y G a n T z

Kevin Plank couldn’t fathom why his filly Shared Account went off at 46-1 in

the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT).

“I don’t think she was that much of a longshot,” he said. “I can’t believe

she went off where she did.”

Traditionalists might cast a condescending eye toward a relative newcomer under-

standably partial to his own horse. Maybe 38-year-old Plank simply didn’t realize

how tough it would be for his grade II winner to go up against European monster

Midday, the race’s heroine in 2009.

Kevin Plank’s success with Shared Account in the Filly & Mare Turf is enjoyed by the team

Shared Wealth However, Plank didn’t build the suc-cessful Under Armour clothing company by shy thinking.

“The lesson I use at Under Armour is we’ve always been smart enough to be naïve enough to not know what we can’t accomplish,” Plank said.

That naiveté propelled Plank to an upset victory with Shared Account, the owner’s very first Breeders’ Cup starter. Shared Ac-count also didn’t realize what she couldn’t accomplish. When Midday took dead aim on Plank’s filly in the stretch, Shared Ac-count simply refused to let the European champion get by.

By paying $94 to win, Shared Account triggered the largest payoff in the Filly & Mare Turf since it was added to the Breed-ers’ Cup menu in 1999. In Breeders’ Cup history, the price was second only to Classic (gr. I) winner Arcangues in 1993, eclipsing Volponi’s $89 payoff in the 2002 Classic.

Plank acknowledged that in addition to the $1,080,000 winner’s share of the $2 mil-

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SHARED ACCOUNT

Owner / SAGAMORE FARM

Trainer / H. GRAHAM MOTION

Jockey / EDGAR PRADO

Breeder / WILLIAM A. CARL (KY)

lion purse, he would be cashing a few win tickets. That brashness led him to plunge into the racing industry a few years ago instead of testing the waters in a smaller, more conservative way. The Marylander bought historic Sagamore Farm in his na-tive state, acquired a plethora of yearlings and broodmares, and set about creating a formidable racing and breeding operation.

Shared Account was among the year-lings Plank purchased in 2007, the same year he bought Sagamore. In his mind he wanted a horse that could win in front of the home crowd on Preakness day be-cause he learned to love racing at that Tri-ple Crown event. But as early as last fall, after Shared Account won the Lake Placid Stakes (gr. IIT) at Saratoga and finished second in two grade I events, trainer Gra-ham Motion sought an even loftier goal, the Filly & Mare Turf.

Motion knew all about tackling Europe-an runners in this particular race. He had the misfortune of encountering champion Ouija Board three times with Film Maker. Ouija Board won the 2004 Filly & Mare Turf, finished second in 2005, and won it again in 2006. Each time, Film Maker fin-ished right behind the European.

After Shared Account’s grade I placings last fall, Motion freshened her for several months as the first step toward the Breed-ers’ Cup.

“I’m a big believer of not starting too early in the year,” the trainer said. “If you want to be around in November, you don’t want to start too early.”

The only drawback to that plan was that Shared Account had to make her first start of 2010 on Preakness day, May 15.

“I run hospitality at the Preakness every year, and I throw a 1,200-person party at the farm,” said Plank. More than any-thing, he wanted Shared Account to win on Preakness day in front of all the people he hosted. However, she finished fourth in the Gallorette Handicap (gr. IIIT), the re-sult of needing the outing and a wide trip.

“Don’t worry,” Plank recalled Motion telling him. “It was her first time out, and we’re going to come back and get the Breeders’ Cup.”

Plank admitted that his first reaction was, “But I really wanted to win today.”

The owner knew his trainer’s patience would pay off, and Shared Account won her next race, the June 19 All Along Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Colonial Downs. At Saratoga in the July 31 Diana Stakes (gr. IT), she lost by just a head to Proviso, a four-time

grade I winner this year about to go up against Goldikova and the boys in the TVG Breeders’ Cup

Mile (gr. IT).What helped fuel Shared Account’s long

odds in the Breeders’ Cup, however, was her next race, a fifth in the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (gr. IT). She broke on top from post 6 and was fanned three wide into the first turn on a yielding surface.

“I thought to write her off after one bad race was very unfair,” said Motion. “It was

very soft that day. The filly really doesn’t want to be on the lead.”

Meanwhile, over in England, Midday was doing her best to deter anyone from challenging her defense of the Breeders’ Cup title. She tuned up with a second at York and proceeded to win her next three races, including the Sept. 12 Prix Vermeille (Fr-I) at Longchamp.

Midday and Goldikova were among the Europeans to arrive at Churchill Downs Oct. 30. Trainer Henry Cecil sent Judd-monte Farms’ Midday out to gallop over the dirt the morning of Nov. 3.

“She’s improved this year and was very well within herself,” Cecil said. “She’s moving well and is very happy.”

The firmness of Churchill’s turf course concerned Cecil and several other Euro-pean trainers. He noted the lack of rain for months. The day after the Filly & Mare Turf, Juddmonte’s Epsom Derby (Eng-I) and Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) winner Workforce, trained by Michael Stoute, was withdrawn from the Breeders’ Cup Turf due to the firm ground.

“You really want no jar in the ground,” Cecil said. “Otherwise, you can do damage. She won’t go on the grass until the race.”

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Trainer H. Graham Motion (far left) shares a Breeders’ Cup momentwith jockey Edgar Prado and with Team Sagamore

Winning owner Kevin Plank

Race Replays at BloodHorse.com

C BREEDERS’ CUPWORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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SHARED ACCOUNT

FILLY & MARE TURF

Prado kept Shared Account close from the beginning and applied a universal way to win—taking the shortest route.

“She broke well, but then two horses went inside of me,” the rider said. “I let them go and was right behind them most of the way.”

Plumania took the lead, tracked by Eclair de Lune and Harmonious. Jockey Olivier Peslier on Plumania kept the pace tepid, traveling a quarter-mile in :25.64 and a half in :50.32.

“I dove right to the rail, and I was able to cover her up,” said Prado. “I was very happy where I was.”

That happiness turned to mild concern

Shared Account had a seasoned Breed-ers’ Cup jockey in Edgar Prado. He knew the filly well, having piloted her in half of her 14 starts, and in the Filly & Mare Turf field, he was second in experience only to Kent Desormeaux, who rode Red Desire. Prado had ridden in 66 Breeders’ Cup races going into this year’s Filly & Mare Turf, winning the 2005 Juvenile Fil-lies (gr. I) with Folklore, 2005 Sprint with Silver Train, and 2006 Ladies’ Classic with Round Pond.

“Me and Graham, we got here early today and tried to get a feeling for the first part of the race,” said Prado.

That consultation proved valuable.

Plumania, who finished second to Mid-day in the Prix Vermeille and then 17th in the Arc against males, also traveled to Ken-tucky for the Filly & Mare Turf. The foreign contingent included two other intriguing possibilities—Hibaayeb, a 3-year-old Go-dolphin filly who won Oak Tree’s Yellow Ribbon Stakes (gr. IT) in California, and Japan’s Red Desire, who had finished third in the Flower Bowl.

No Japanese-bred horse has won a Breeders’ Cup race. Red Desire brought a bankroll of $3,600,782—more than any other entrant in the Filly & Mare Turf. She also had successfully traveled the world, having won in Japan and Dubai. She pre-ferred firmer going than she encountered in the Flower Bowl, and the New York weather impacted her training.

“It had been raining for a week,” said Nobutaka Tada, the racing manager for owner Yoko Yamamoto’s Tokyo Horse Racing. “We had to jog her until Wednes-day. She was mad. And it was a long trip. Considering those factors, she did great.”

Once she arrived at Churchill Oct. 26, Red Desire improved, according to Tada.

“She’s a different horse now,” he said. “She’s gotten stronger and settled very well.”

Harmonious, winner of the American Oaks (gr. IT) at Hollywood Park and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (gr. IT) at Keeneland, received the most support to upset Midday.

FILLY & MARE TURFresuLTs

NINTH RACE

ChurchillNOVEMBER 5, 2010

1´ MILES. (Turf) (2.13) 12TH RUNNING OF THE EMIRATES AIRLINE BREEDERS' CUP FILLYAND MARE TURF. Grade I. Purse $2,000,000 FOR FILLIES AND MARES, THREE-YEAR-OLDS ANDUPWARD. Northern Hemisphere Three-Year-Olds, 121 lbs.; Older, 124 lbs. Southern Hemisphere Three-Year-Olds, 116 lbs. Older, 124 lbs. $20,000 to pre-enter, $40,000 to enter, with guaranteed $2 million purseincluding nominator awards of which 54% to the owner of the winner, 18% to second, 9.9% to third, 6% tofourth and 3% to fifth; plus stallion nominator awards of 3% to the winner, 1% to second and 0.55% to thirdand foal nominator awards of 3% to the winner,1% to second and 0.55% to third. (If deemed inadvisableby management to run this race over the turf course, it will be run on the main track at One and One Fourthmile.).

Value of Race: $1,818,000 Winner $1,080,000; second $360,000; third $198,000; fourth $120,000; fifth $60,000. Mutuel Pool $2,913,257.00 ExactaPool $1,749,080.00 Trifecta Pool $1,459,604.00 Superfecta Pool $738,273.00

Last Raced Horse M/Eqt. A. Wt PP ² ¶ º 1 Str Fin Jockey Odds $1

2å10 ¬Belª Shared Account L f 4 124 5 4¦ô 3ô 3Ç 4ô 5¦ô 1É Prado E S 46.0012æ10 «LCH¦ Midday-GB L 4 124 7 5ô 5ô 5¦ 5¦ 4Ç 2É Queally T P 0.902å10 ¬Bel© Keertana L 4 124 4 9¦ô 9¦ô 9¦ô 9¦ô 3Ç 3¦ Lezcano J 31.702å10 ¬Bel¨ Red Desire-Jpn L f 4 124 10 6¦ô 6¦ô 6¦ô 6ô 1Ç 4É Desormeaux K J 5.1010å10 ®Kee¨ Hot Cha Cha L 4 124 8 10¦ô10ô 11 11 8ô 5É Graham J 52.4021Ý10 ®AP¦ íEclair de Lune-Ger L 4 124 2 2¦ô 2ô 2¦ 2¦ 2Ç 6 Alvarado J 23.902å10 ¬Bel« íForever Together L 6 124 11 11 11 10¦ô10Ç7¦ô 6É Napravnik A R 36.502å10 ¤OTH¦ Hibaayeb-GB L 3 121 9 7ô 7¦ 8Ç 8ô 6ô 8¦ö Dettori L 29.0016å10 ®WO§ Miss Keller-Ire L 4 124 3 8§ 8¦ 7Ç 7ô 9© 9©ô Castellano J J 12.7016å10 ®Kee¦ Harmonious L 3 121 6 3ô 4¦ô 4¦ 3Ç 11 10¦ö Rosario J 5.003å10 LCH¦« Plumania-GB 4 124 1 1ô 1¦ô 1¦ô 1ô 10¦ 11 Peslier O 8.50í-Dead Heat.

OFF AT 6:53 Start Good. Won driving. Course firm.TIME :25¨, :50¦, 1:15©, 1:40©, 2:05¨, 2:17¨ (:25.64, :50.32, 1:15.94, 1:40.95, 2:05.77, 2:17.74)

$2 Mutuel Prices:5 -SHARED ACCOUNT 94.00 21.80 15.207 -MIDDAY-GB 3.20 2.204 -KEERTANA 10.20

$2�EXACTA�5-7�PAID�$295.20 $2�TRIFECTA�5-7-4�PAID�$3,830.40$1�SUPERFECTA�5-7-4-10�PAID�$12,774.40

B. f, (Feb), by Pleasantly Perfect - Silk n' Sapphire , by Smart Strike . Trainer Motion H Graham. Bred by WilliamA Carl (Ky).

SHARED ACCOUNT attended the pace along the hedge, shifted out a bit entering the stretch, split rivals with a furlong torun, fought stubbornly through a prolonged drive and was fully extended to prevail narrowly. MIDDAY (GB) was close up betweenhorses, took closer order through the final turn, was bumped and lacked room entering the stretch, angled in to find a seam insidethe three-sixteenths pole, battled on doggedly through the final furlong but was unable to reach the winner. KEERTANA wasreserved off of the pace under a hard hold, responded when put to pressure with three furlongs to run, wheeled out six wide enteringthe stretch, finished well but wasn't quite good enough. RED DESIRE (JPN) settled in hand three deep, launched her bid four wide,drifted in a step entering the stretch and bumped HARMONIOUS, was straightened away and poked her head in front with a furlongto run, but gave way grudgingly between rivals. HOT CHA CHA was caught in tight between horses and steadied entering the firstturn, settled into stride near the tail of the field three deep, commenced a rally near the three-eighths pole, was blocked and alteredcourse entering the stretch, kept on well between horses but was left with too much to do. ECLAIR DE LUNE (GER) prompted thepace three wide, stayed on well to the final furlong but weakened between rivals. FOREVER TOGETHER was unhurried into stride,angled in to save ground, angled out seven wide leaving the final turn and improved position through the lane. HIBAAYEB (GB)settled between horses three wide, angled out five wide to make a mild bid entering the stretch, but lacked the needed late response.MISS KELLER (IRE) tucked in along the hedge to save ground, got through entering the stretch, bumped with PULMANIA (GB)near the furlong marker, kept on fairly well but failed to seriously threaten. HARMONIOUS tugged to contention three wide andwas forwardly placed to the stretch, was collared between horses and bumped when RED DESIRE (JPN) came in near the three-sixteenths pole and came up empty. PLUMANIA (GB) opened a clear to set the pace off of the inside, controlled the tempo to thestretch, was engulfed between horses near the three-sixteenths pole and dropped out once headed.

Owners- 1, Sagamore Farm; 2, Juddmonte Farms Inc; 3, Hunter Barbara; 4, Tokyo Horse Racing Co Ltd; 5, McMakin Nelson; 6,Duchossois Richard L; 7, Augustin Stable; 8, Godolphin Racing LLC; 9, Three Chimneys Racing LLC; 10, Wygod Martin Emily and Pam; 11,Wertheimer and Frere

Trainers- 1, Motion H Graham; 2, Cecil Henry; 3, Proctor Thomas F; 4, Matsunaga Mikio; 5, Sims Phillip A; 6, McAnally Ronald; 7,Sheppard Jonathan E; 8, bin Suroor Saeed; 9, Attfield Roger L; 10, Shirreffs John; 11, Fabre Andre

$2 Daily Double (4-5) Paid $572.00 ; Daily Double Pool $219,935 .50�CENT Pick Three (12-4-5) Paid $1,378.65 ; Pick Three Pool $436,060 .

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Shared Account and Prado

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coming off the final turn. Plumania began to back up, and Prado had to angle off the rail to find room. He pointed Shared Ac-count for the hole, as did jockey Thomas Queally on the favorite.

Shared Account and Midday strived together, the American inside of her Eu-ropean rival. The longshot refused to be intimidated and held off Midday to win by a neck in 2:17.74. Keertana closed a tre-mendous amount of ground to finish third, another neck back and a length in front of Red Desire.

Neither Cecil nor Queally offered any excuses for Midday.

“The trip didn’t beat her,” said Queally. “The filly that finished first beat her.”

Added Cecil, “She did nothing wrong. On the day she just got beat on that course fair and square.”

An exuberant Plank prepared to celebrate, most likely all through the night, with his disappointment at losing on Preakness day nearly forgotten. First he made sure he thanked his entire team—from Motion and Prado to farm man-ager and buddy Tom Mullikin, bloodstock agent Bob Feld, and Plank’s family (his wife, D.J., and their children, 7-year-old James and 3-year-old Katherine).

“It begins with the guy that pulls it all together every day, and that’s my partner, Tom Mullikin,” said Plank.

The genesis for Shared Account’s Breeders’ Cup victory stems from Plank’s high school days. At St. Johns College High School in Washington, D.C., Plank became good friends with Mullikin.

“Tommy got out (of high school),

and next thing I know he was running horses in Lexington, working on a farm, sleeping in a barn,” Plank said.

Plank decided to enter the horse busi-ness, and he thought he and Mullikin working together could improve upon sleeping in a barn. Mullikin suggested Plank buy a farm.

“We were looking, thinking we would start small—maybe 50 acres, 100 acres,” said Plank.

But as Mullikin and Plank drove around the Maryland countryside, Plank kept re-turning to a 425-acre parcel of weeds and sagging fences. He saw the former glory of Sagamore Farm, once owned by the late Alfred G. Vanderbilt II and home to Native Dancer and Discovery. Vanderbilt’s legacy

included orchestrating the fabled match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral at Pimlico in 1938.

After Plank bought the property, he im-mediately began renovating the facility.

“When you come out there and see the four-board white fence, it looks like 1935 out there, which is a really cool thing to see,” Plank said.

Mullikin introduced Plank to Feld, a bloodstock agent based in California who also does extensive work in Kentucky. Feld meshed into the team and began looking for yearlings.

“I buy athletes,” said Feld. “I don’t even need to see the pedigree page if they are athletic with good balance and a good shoulder. The only time I might take a

horse off my short list is if the mare is a non-producer.”

In Shared Account, Feld found just such an athlete for $170,000 at the 2007 Keeneland fall yearling sale. She was in the first crop of 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) winner Pleasantly Perfect out of the Smart Strike mare Silk n’ Sapphire. The mare had already produced a stakes-placed runner.

“Bobby, great job, man,” said Plank after the Breeders’ Cup victory. “Hats off to you. We said she’s either going to win today or she’ll have the next Triple Crown winner. So I still think she’s got a shot at both.”

It’s typical of Plank’s big dreams that not a half-hour after winning a Breeders’ Cup race he was thinking about how Sagamore could produce a Triple Crown winner. After all, that way he’ll really have something to show off to the home crowd on Preakness day. b

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Shared Account during Breeders’ Cup week

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Prado keeps Shared Account along the hedge as Plumania (No. 1) leads the field turning for home

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