Moore wins record sixth Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland

Ryan Moore won the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland in Kentucky on Saturday, claiming the race for a record sixth time aboard Benvenuto Cellini. He prevailed in the £3.7m ($5m) feature after timing his final push to secure victory.

Moore elected to ride Benvenuto Cellini rather than stablemate Diamond Necklace, with Benvenuto powering home by three-quarters of a length ahead of James Doyle on Map Of Stars. Diamond Necklace, a Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe third-place finisher, ran on to finish third. The result provided trainer Aidan O'Brien with a record-extending eighth victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and Benvenuto Cellini started the race at 3-1 favourite.

Moore was appointed MBE for services to racing and British sport in June and the report described him as widely regarded as the best jockey of his generation. He previously rode Estimate to victory in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2013 for Queen Elizabeth II.

O'Brien, who was equalling his own record of 28 top-level victories in a calendar year, praised the performance and the riding. "He's a horse that showed a lot of class. Ryan was calm and relaxed on him and let it happen. He was brilliant on him. He did it again, he had to come out and come round," he said. "Time after time he produces on the day. He accepted early he let them go, but he had one bullet to fire which he executed perfectly." "It's so special that everyone is here. It's a special day."

Benvenuto Cellini's dam Newspaperofrecord herself won the Breeders' Cup in 2018, a noted point in the colt's pedigree. The meeting at Keeneland also produced the result in the Breeders' Cup Classic, where Venezuelan jockey Junior Alvarado won aboard Sovereignty.

Sovereignty, a four-year-old trained by Bill Mott, had been scrapped from competing last year because of fever but returned to beat the field, with Japan's Forever Young — bidding for a second successive Classic — finishing in fifth. Alvarado described the win as "spectacular" and said: "We really wanted to run so bad the Classic last year. I'm just so glad the Godolphin team gave us a chance to keep him in training and get to do what he did today," he said.

Both Moore's record sixth Turf victory and Alvarado's Classic success were recorded at the Breeders' Cup meeting at Keeneland on Saturday.