Henri Matisse came out on top to land the Prevagen Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. Aidan O'Brien's colt and his rivals were made to wait in the stalls after Aomori City broke through the starting gates and had to be reloaded. When the field got away, the winner's class showed as he overcame a wide passage to soar to success on a fruitful day for Ryan Moore and the Coolmore team.
Henri Matisse was O'Brien's 20th Breeders' Cup winner, equalling the record of the great D Wayne Lukas. "It's incredible, we all know what a special man he is. I'm honoured to be anywhere close to his record," said O'Brien.
"I'm delighted for everybody. What can you say about Wayne? He rang me earlier in the week and he told me about this track, how to ride it and what to do and what not to do. "He was saying about the Classic and how he thought we should ride our horse (City Of Troy).
We feel very grateful and really privileged that he was so good to tell us everything — honoured really. "I remember Wayne came down and told us what to do about the pony (when Giant's Causeway ran in the 2000 Classic), then he said 'I'll come down and I'll do it for you'. "That was the Giant's Causeway time and ever since he's been such a help to us, we're just so grateful to him.
What a special man." Henri Matisse won his first three starts and then finished second in the National Stakes, prompting O'Brien to try him in blinkers in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. The trainer said: "He went to the front in the N.
