Arrogate is flat and Accelerate scores a shocking upset at Del Mar

If there’s been a bigger upset at Del Mar … well, it’s highly unlikely there has been.

Arrogate, rated the top horse in the world and the all-time leading money winner among North American thoroughbreds, finished a shocking fourth Saturday as the 1-20 favorite in the $300,000 San Diego Handicap at the seaside track.

The winner was Accelerate, who will go down in Del Mar history along with Dare And Go, who upset Cigar in the 1996 Pacific Classic, and in horse racing annals with the likes of Upset, who handed Man O’ War his only defeat, and Onion, who stunned Secretariat in the 1973 Whitney.

Victor Espinoza rode the winner for trainer John Sadler, but Arrogate obviously was the story. The 4-year-old Unbridled’s Song colt had won seven straight races, including consecutive triumphs in the Travers, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup, which boosted his earnings past $17 million.

Saturday he got beat by 15¼ lengths and earned $18,000.

“I think he just laid an egg,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “I don’t think it had anything to do with the track. He was just flat.”

Arrogate began the race OK, and jockey Mike Smith settled him in last place, just a few lengths off Accelerate’s modest pace as the five-horse field turned into the backstretch. Smith asked Arrogate to move with a little more than a half-mile remaining, and the horse made a mild bid going around the stretch turn. But the spectacular burst he showed in going from last-to-first in Dubai evidently was lost somewhere between the Middle East and California.

As the field turned for home, Accelerate was long gone and Arrogate drifted toward the rear. He beat only El Huerfano, who was eased after stumbling at the start, causing jockey Evin Roman to lose his irons.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Smith said. “He just was flat, so flat. We were going around there OK, and then I took him outside like I did in Dubai, but he just didn’t pick it up.

“So I dropped him inside again and cut the corner, then wheeled him outside once more and tried to get something from him. But he was just flat. He wasn’t trying. So I just wrapped up on him and got him home safe.”

Accelerate won by 8½ lengths over Donworth, with Cat Burglar another 2½ behind in third. The final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.15.

“I was surprised by how far I won,” Espinoza said. “I wasn’t surprised that I did. I was here to win. I thought I’d sit second or third, but when that speed horse (El Huerfano) stumbled at the start, I made an easy lead.”

Espinoza might not have been surprised, but Sadler was.

“You want to win; you don’t want to concede anything,” he said, “but I’m surprised we won because Arrogate is the best horse in the world. A couple of things went right for us and one of them was that Arrogate didn’t fire his best. That’s what has to happen for these big upsets.”

Accelerate, whose biggest career win had come in last year’s Los Alamitos Derby, is a 4-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky — ironically a Preakness winner for Baffert. In another strange twist, Accelerate is now two for two against Arrogate; they debuted in the same race in April 2016 at Los Alamitos and Accelerate finished second, a neck ahead of Arrogate.

The winner paid $17.60 as the 7-1 second choice, but that was a small part of the wagering story. Donworth, the runner-up, paid $119.80 to place and $67.40 to show, with both prices breaking 62-year-old records at Del Mar.

Of the $2,671,938 bet in the win-place-show pools on the race, 92% ($2,457,472) was wagered on Arrogate.

Before Saturday’s race, Arrogate was expected to make two more starts at Del Mar, in the Aug. 19 Pacific Classic and Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Classic, which could be the final two starts of his career. How Saturday’s events affects that schedule remains to be seen.

“We’ve got to go back and start over again,” Smith said. “Get it back right.”

jay.posner@sduniontribune.com