Space Blues enjoys perfect swansong with Mile glory

Godolphin runner signs off with Breeders’ Cup success.

Space Blues provided Charlie Appleby and William Buick with a second winner of the weekend as he bowed out with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.

Incredibly, after the drama before Friday’s Juvenile Turf which saw the Appleby-trained Albahr scratched after becoming upset in the stalls and stablemate Modern Games claim the prize, something similar happened again.

His 2000 Guineas runner-up Master Of The Seas reared and hit his head on the stalls and protocol in America meant that he was immediately backed out and withdrawn. Thankfully the horse appeared fine on jogging back and James Doyle escaped injury.

That meant Appleby was down to just one runner in Space Blues, the Prix de la Foret winner, who was stepping up in trip for the first time since 2019.

Once Buick was able to break well and sit in third through the first half of the race, everything else went to plan with the pace only steady.

As Space Blues again displayed a potent turn of foot which he has been showing off in Europe all year, he might not have been going away at the finish but it was the perfect way to end a prolific career.

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