Arcadia, CA (Sports Network) - Defending champ Midnight Lute rallied down the stretch to repeat as the victor in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Saturday. The win gave trainer Bob Baffert his second victory of the day.
Racing for just the second time in 2008, Midnight Lute and rider Garrett Gomez broke slowly from the gate in the eight-horse field. Setting the pace up the backstretch was First Defence and Fatal Bullet.
Fatal Bullet took the lead on the final turn as Midnight Lute began his rally. Running down the middle of the track the defender caught Fatal Bullet inside the furlong pole and opened up to the wire.
Midnight Lute, giving Gomez his fourth Championship win this weekend, posted a two-length victory over Fatal Bullet with Street Boss third and In Summation getting fourth.
Trainer John Sadler said Cost of Freedom, who drew the inside post, was scratched from the Sprint after a veterinary inspection Saturday morning.
The time for the six furlongs was 1:07.08 on the synthetic surface, more than two seconds faster than the winner's time last year at Monmouth Park.
Midnight Lute was coming off a 10th-place finish in the Pat O'Brien Handicap at Del Mar in his lone start this year. The Sprint victory was worth $1.15 million to bring the five-year-old's career earnings to more than $2.7 million. He has won six of 13 lifetime starts.
Owned by Mike Pegram, Midnight Lute has a chance to win his second Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter.
Midnight Lute paid $7.40, $5.00 and $3.20. Fatal Bullet returned $6.60 and $3.80, and Street Boss paid $2.40 to show.
