Olympiad wins Stephen Foster to earn Breeders’ Cup berth

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Late favorite Olympiad surged past Caddo River entering the final turn and pulled away in the stretch to win the $750,000 Stephen Foster by 2 1/4 lengths over Americanrevolution on Saturday at Churchill Downs and automatically qualify for this fall’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The Bill Mott-trained bay colt improved to 5-0 as a 4-year-old in the Grade II event, one of several “Win and You’re In” qualifiers for the season-ending championships Breeders’ Cup Championships on Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. The 3-2 choice broke strong from the No. 3 post to stay close to early pacesetter Caddo River along with 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun through the far turn before breaking clear.

Americanrevolution mounted a late charge but had no chance of catching Olympiad, who earned his seventh win in 10 starts. Mandaloun, elevated in February to Derby champion following the disqualification of deceased colt Medina Spirit for a failed postrace drug test, entered as the 2-1 morning line favorite but fell to fourth behind Proxy.

With Junior Alvarado aboard, Olympiad covered the 1 1/8 mile in 1:47.66 and $5, $3.40 and $2.60. Americanrevolution returned $4 and $3.20 while Proxy paid $3.60 to show.

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