Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds and trainer John Sadler don't shy away from jumping the right horse up several class levels. It worked brilliantly with Flightline , who went straight from allowance to grade 1 company en route to eventual Horse of the Year honors, and it worked again with Super Corredora in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
Super Corredora, owned by West Point with Spartan Equine Racing, Robert Gardiner, and Michael Olszewski, actually took a bigger leap than Flightline, going from her maiden victory into the Breeders' Cup. The boldness of the move may have caught some of the more seasoned runners by surprise.
Bob Baffert had two powerhouse graded winners in the race with Explora and Bottle of Rouge. Todd Pletcher brought double grade 1 winner Tommy Jo, while Percy's Bar had outfinished Tommy Jo in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1), only to be disqualified for interference. Bettors gave all four of those runners a better chance than they did Super Corredora, co-fifth choice with Frizette Stakes (G1) winner Iron Orchard.
Iron Orchard broke slowly and trailed the field for the entire race, while jockey Hector Berrios took Super Corredora right to the front. Sadler and Berrios had discussed that strategy prior to the race.
"He told me okay, let's go to the lead," Berrios said. "So I go to the lead and the other people I see maybe decide, 'Ah she is a longshot—you lead.' She went to the lead and was very comfortable."
Super Corredora was so comfortable that she was able to surprise the more experienced field. She clicked off fractions of :22.42 for the first quarter-mile and :45.63 for a half-mile, seemingly with little effort.
"I feel that she's very rhythmic—she's got a beautiful stride," Sadler said. "Even if she was going a little fast, I felt that if she was comfortable, she would keep going."
Super Corredora did indeed keep going. Explora, the 3-2 favorite and winner of the Oak Leaf Stakes (G2), came for her in the stretch. As Explora closed ground from fourth, Super Corredora fended her off, never letting the other filly get even with her. At the wire, Super Corredora defeated Explora by three-quarters of a length, stopping the timer in 1:43.71. Explora proved best of the others, as her 3-length margin to third-place Percy's Bar demonstrated.
Berrios was winning his first Breeders' Cup race, which would have been emotional at any time. He told reporters in both English and Spanish how special it was "with all my family here, my children." He had come closest before in only his third of his 11 Breeders' Cup attempts, finishing second by just a nose to Malathaat aboard Blue Stripe in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).
Sadler knows all about coming close without winning a Breeders' Cup. It took 45 tries until he won the 2018 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), Accelerate becoming Sadler's first winner. Since then, Sadler won the 2022 Classic with Flightline and the 2024 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) with Full Serrano, who will try to repeat in that race Nov. 1.
"There was a time when they'd say, 'He's the best trainer that hasn't won a Breeders' Cup,' and they stopped that after Accelerate," Sadler said.
Sadler has trained for West Point for some time, and Finley had high praise for the conditioner.
"He's one of the best trainers of all time—I truly believe that," Finley said. "I think he should go to a ceremony at Saratoga in the coming years."
The West Point/Sadler connection also includes bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who has found many top runners at sales for West Point as well as for Sadler and many of the trainer's other clients. The team scoped out Super Corredora at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, buying her from consignor Denali Stud for $400,000. Finley recalled being surprised at the price, given how well her sire, Gun Runner , has done.
"At that time, Gun Runner was the talk of the town," Finley said. "Now it's the Gun Runners and the Not This Times. We paid $400,000, and we were like, 'What did we miss?' because they were going for so much money. She's not a big, strapping filly, but very athletic."
Finley sent her to Florida for her initial lessons and then on to Sadler.
"We started to hear that we had a pretty good prospect on our hands, but not to get in a hurry," Finley said.
Super Corredora debuted at Del Mar, running fifth behind Juvenile Fillies entrant La Wally at 5 furlongs July 19 and then second to Bottle of Rouge at 6 1/2 furlongs Aug. 9.
"I always expected her to improve around two turns," Sadler said. "There's not a hotter stallion in the country than Gun Runner. To me they move up when they go from 6 furlongs to a mile. We had high expectations."
Sadler sent her a mile in a maiden race at Santa Anita Park Oct. 11 and she roared home by 8 1/4 lengths.
"It wasn't just that she broke her maiden—she was aggressive," Sadler said. "She won by 8 1/4; she could have won by 15."
But it was only three weeks between that race and the Breeders' Cup.
"I was a little surprised when (Sadler) called and he said, 'I'd like to take a hard look at the Breeders' Cup,'" Finley said.
They swung for the fences and hit a home run.
Super Corredora also earned 30 points toward a slot in the starting gate of the 2026 Kentucky Oaks (G1) with her Friday victory. As part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, the Juvenile Fillies granted Oaks qualifying points on a 30-15-9-6-3 scale to the top five finishers.
Woodford Thoroughbreds bred Super Corredora in Kentucky from the Super Saver mare Super Simple. Though Super Simple had won only one race and prior to Super Corredora had produced only one other registered foal, she is out of stakes winner Simplify. When bred to Gun Runner, Simplify had produced multiple stakes winner Optionality and grade 3-placed Counterspy. Simplify had also produced stakes winner Simple Surprise, who in turn produced multiple grade 1 winner Gunite , a son of Gun Runner.
Super Corredora, Sierra Leone , Brant, and Locked are 2025 grade 1 winners sired by Hall of Famer and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, who going into the Breeders' Cup was ranked third among 2025 leading sires, behind only Into Mischief and Not This Time . The stallion will stand for a 2026 stud fee of $250,000 at Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky.
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