Ouija Board put up a superb display to end her season on a brilliant high with
victory in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Lone Star Park on Saturday.
And amazingly, a British raiding party of just two runners ended the night
with a 100 per cent record after Wilko scored a most unlikely success for Jeremy
Noseda and Frankie Dettori in the Juvenile.
It was far from plain sailing for Ouija Board on ground that was unsuitably
slow, a track that was unsuitably sharp, and an early pace which was more Sunday
League than Premiership.
But with Kieren Fallon asking the Ed Dunlop-trained dual Oaks heroine to
accelerate around the final bend, they struck for home with a furlong to run and
stayed on strongly to beat outsider Film Maker by a length and a half.
The win proved just as popular for the majority of the 50,000-plus crowd as it
was for the Brits, with Ouija Board returned a strongly-supported 9-10 chance on
the pari-mutuel. She was returned at 10-11 at home.
The effects of Ouija Board's gritty third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
four weeks ago were probably starting to show in the final stages as she drifted
right close home.
As such, she is almost certain to bypass a tilt at the Japan Cup, according to
Dunlop.
"She has been nominated for the Japan Cup but I would think that I would
probably get voted against on that one, even if I did want to go," he said.
"We didn't know about the ground today. I asked Kieren before the race and he
said that some people were saying it was good and others that it was much
softer.
"But whatever it was, she handled it well and it gives us a lot more options
for next year.
"I'm not really going to start thinking about next season but I'm looking
forward to training her and I imagine we will target the Summer Triple Crown
races, if it still exists.
"We were lucky with the draw today. If we'd been further wide than five we
might not have been able to get the position on the rails.
"But Kieren found the right spot and gave her a fantastic ride."
Fallon, who said he was pleased to be able get such a prominent pitch behind a
slow pace, paid tribute to the winner.
"I have always rated her since the first time I sat on her in the spring,"
he said. "Most great fillies have got plenty of speed or stamina, but this one
has got both. She has a real turn of foot."