By Rory Carroll
ARCADIA, Calif. (Reuters) - Uni accelerated down the stretch to win the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile on Saturday at Santa Anita Park and triumph over second place finisher Got Stormy.
Jockey Joel Rosario asked Uni to pick up the pace coming into the final turn and the powerful 5-year-old mare responded by surging past the pack from the outside to set up a duel with the filly.
The 7-2 Uni proved too strong and ultimately beat Got Stormy, the 3-1 favourite, by a comfortable one-and-a-half lengths margin on the turf track on a mostly sunny day in Southern California.
The win was the 10th victory in 18 starts for Uni.
It also marks the 14th Breeders' Cup victory for trainer Chad Brown, who also trained third-place finisher Without Parole (8-1), who edged Circus Maximus (7-2) by a nose.
Two horses, Bolo and Suedois, were scratched from the race by veterinarians on Saturday morning following pre-race examinations.
Santa Anita Park has come under scrutiny after 36 horses have died there since late December.
In response, the track in the spring adopted new rules pertaining to the use of drugs and brought in a record number of vets to examine horses competing in the world championships.
No horses have been injured through the first 10 Breeders' Cup races on Saturday.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Dan Grebler)