Johannes Secures Breeders' Cup Mile Berth After Surviving Inquiry In City Of Hope Mile
Johannes rolled to his fourth consecutive victory of 2024 and improved his record over the Santa Anita turf course to a perfect 6-for-6, defeating Almendares by 1 1/4 lengths in Saturday's Grade 2 City of Hope Mile Stakes presented by My Racehorse at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Ridden by Umberto Rispoli and trained by Tim Yakteen, the Cuyathy homebred 4-year-old by Nyquist had to survive an inquiry stemming from a bumping incident at the top of the stretch with pacesetter Conclude, who wound up in third, beaten a nose for the runner-up spot.
The City of Hope was a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge Series race, giving the winner a fees-paid berth for the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile to be run Nov. 2 at Del Mar, where Johannes won the G2 Eddie Read Stakes going nine furlongs in July in his last start.
It was also the last of four graded stakes on the inaugural California Crown Day at Santa Anita, held on a sunny and warm Southern California afternoon before a crowd of 21,812, many of whom likely were attending horse racing for the first time and were attracted by a wide-ranging day of entertainment and food. Handle for the day totaled $17,907,293, a 39.5 percent increase from the comparable day in 2023 when the California Crown was run under its previous name, the Awesome Again Stakes, and the card included several other graded stakes.
Conclude, breaking from the outside No. 9 post position, was urged to the lead by jockey Hector Berrios, who guided the son of Collected to a front-running score last out in the G2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 31. Conclude set fractions of :23.04 for hte opening quarter mile, :46.30 for the half, and 1:09.61 for six furlongs. Johannes secured a ground-saving spot along the rail, racing in third behind the leader and longshot Astronomer before shifting off the fence at the top of the stretch.
Johannes and Conclude exchanged bumps at the top of the stretch, with Conclude then going on to the victory after passing the furlong marker in 1:20.94. His final time was 1:32.45 on a firm course. Almendares rallied late to nip Conclude for second, with Eastern invader Trikari, coming off back-to-back graded stake wins for Graham Motion, finishing fourth. Easter was fifth.
"It was horse racing," said Rispoli. "Hector came off the rail and tried to engage his horse left-handed and he bumped my horse. He is the kind of horse that tends to lean a little bit, we just brushed each other, nothing too big. I would have been surprised to ssee any change. My horse, he just saw the gab and he went through. After a bad ride at Churchill last year (when fifth in the G2 American Turf), the owner and I stuck together. It means a lot to me. He's a special horse, so I have to say well done to the whole team. They do a really good job."
Johannes paid $3.60 as the 4-5 favorite, winning for the seventh time in 11 career starts. He came into the race off victories in the G3 American Stakes April 4, the G1 Shoemaker Mile on May 27 (both at Santa Anita) and the aforementioned Eddie Read.
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The Shoemaker win gave Joe and Debby McCloskey, Solana Beach, Calif., residents who breed and race under the Cuyathy moniker, their first homebred G1 winner. He was produced from the Congrats mare, Cuyathy, who happens to be the first horse they ever purchased. Debby McCloskey named the mare Cuyathy, an acronym for “call upon your angels to help you.”
"It is just outstanding," Joe McCloskey said after the victory. "We are so blessed. From our farrier, groom and the veterinarian c rew, the whole team they just put it together and we came through."
"We got a great trip," said Yakteen. "It was rather uneventful. We just had to sweat out hte inquiry a little. I'm th rilled with the effort. That's seven out of eight since we went to the turf and Umberto has done a great job. This was a 'Win and You're in" for the Breeders' Cup, and if everything is fine with Johannes, that is where we are headed."