Wilko Is Quite a Stunner

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas â€”  Horses from Europe have won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile before. Arazi came from France to score an electrifying win at Churchill Downs in 1991. Johannesburg, saddled by Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien, won at Belmont Park in 2001.

Those wins were not totally unexpected. Arazi, trained by Francois Boutin, was favored in his race, and Johannesburg went into his Breeders’ Cup race undefeated in six starts.

Now there is Wilko, who shocked a so-so bunch of American 2-year-olds with a 28-1 upset Saturday at Lone Star Park. Wilko had run 10 times -- all on grass -- in England, while his trainer, Jeremy Noseda, shopped him around.

Finally, J. Paul Reddam of Laguna Beach bought 75% of the colt.

“Whatever I paid, it was a bargain,� Reddam said as he ducked the question about the sales price.

Noseda reportedly was asking about $1.85 million for 100% of Wilco before Reddam came around.

“I bought the horse with this race in mind,� Reddam said. “This horse is a stayer who just keeps coming.�

Noseda will be replaced by Craig Dollase, who trains for Reddam in California.

“I just thought we might get a piece of it,� Noseda said. “Never in my wildest dream did I think we’d get the whole lot.�

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Wilko’s longshot win and Singletary’s 16-1 surprise in the Mile led to a pick six in which no one picked all six winners. There were 61 tickets with five winners, each worth $56,149.60. Going into the Classic, the last leg, there was one ticket with six winners if either Roses In May or Pleasantly Perfect won. Either ticket would have been worth $3.4 million. But Roses In May and Pleasantly Perfect ran second and third, behind Ghostzapper.

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The opening for jockey Javier Castellano came after Jerry Bailey turned down Ghostzapper, trainer Bobby Frankel said.

“Jerry was down to ride him [on June 30, 2003] at Belmont,� Frankel said. “But his agent [Ron Anderson] said that he already had five mounts that day, didn’t like the horse that much and wanted off.�

Anderson confirmed the story.

“It had something to do with a [poor] workout,� Anderson said. “Usually those things work out, but this time they didn’t.�

With Castellano, Ghostzapper has won seven of eight starts. Jose Valdivia Jr. was aboard when Ghostzapper broke his maiden, winning by nine lengths, at Hollywood Park on Nov. 16, 2002. Valdivia rode Ghostzapper one other time, finishing fourth at Santa Anita.

Frankel wasn’t high on Ghostzapper early on.

“He was clumsy and didn’t breeze very fast,� the trainer said. “He wasn’t impressive. But this year he’s been much better. He breezes as fast as you want.�

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Aaron and Marie Jones bred two of the winners -- Ashado in the Distaff and Speightstown in the Sprint.... Frank Stronach said that Ghostzapper would remain in training next year.