Appealing Tale wins Pat O'Brien Stakes

The Aug. 22 Pat O'Brien Stakes race at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club was the opposite of the 1960s television show "The Beverly Hillbillies" in which wealth from an oil strike on the Clampett family's Southern mountainous land resulted in their move to Beverly Hills.

San Luis Rey Training Center trainer Peter Miller, who grew up in Beverly Hills and opted for a career in horse racing rather than joining many of his Beverly Hills High School classmates as attorneys, will be going to Kentucky for the Oct. 30-31 Breeders' Cup after achieving victory with Appealing Tale. The Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes had "Win and You're In" status which guaranteed the winning horse automatic entry into the Oct. 30 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

Although Appealing Tale led for the entirety of the seven-furlong race for three-year-olds and upward, Wild Dude never trailed by more than a length. "He's such a fighter, this horse," Miller said of Appealing Tale. "He loves a dogfight, and when they came up next to him I knew he wouldn't give up. I felt confident all the way."

Appealing Tale broke first and took 23.34 seconds for his first quarter of a mile, at which point he led Wild Dude by half a length and third-place Indexical by three-quarters of a length. "I felt really good when I saw the 23 and one," Miller said.

(Horse racing times are sometimes reported in increments of one-fifth of a second, in which case the first two furlongs would have taken 23 1/5 seconds.)

"When I felt that first quarter, I was smiling. I really liked that," said jockey Joe Talamo.

Appealing Tale and Talamo took 45.62 seconds for the first half-mile, at which point they had a half-length lead on Wild Dude and a three-quarters of a length advantage on Indexical. When Appealing Tale entered the stretch 1:09.28 into the race he led Wild Dude by only a head although Wild Dude led Indexical by two lengths.

Appealing Tale ended the race half a length ahead of Wild Dude and had a winning time of 1:21.40. "When that other horse came to me in the stretch, he fought back. He fought him off. He's a good one," Talamo said. "This is the fourth time I've ridden this horse, and he just shows up every time."

The first of those four races was a 3 1/4-length win in a one-mile contest May 31 at Santa Anita Park. Talamo and Appealing Tale followed that win with second-place finishes in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Triple Bend stakes June 27 at Santa Anita and the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap race July 25 at Del Mar, a 1 1/16-mile contest in which they finished a head behind winner Catch a Flight.

Wild Dude finished third in the Triple Bend Stakes and then won the six-furlong Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes race July 26 at Del Mar by 1 1/2 lengths.

The Pat O'Brien Stakes victory was Appealing Tale's fourth win in 24 career starts. The five-year-old gelding was foaled in Kentucky on April 18, 2010. He was sired by Tale of the Cat out of Appealing Bride. Miller obtained Appealing Tale for current owners Gary and Cecil Barber at a 2012 sale for two-year-olds in training.

The total purse for the Pat O'Brien Stakes was $250,000, so the first-place share was $150,000. Only that $150,000 counts towards Appealing Tale's total lifetime earnings which increased to $533,222, although the Win and Your In victory also includes payment of the $20,000 entry fee for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and a $10,000 travel allowance.

This year's Breeders' Cup will be at the Keeneland track in Lexington, Ky. "He's such a game horse and he can go anywhere from seven-eighths of a mile to a mile and a sixteenth, so the mile is right in his wheelhouse," Miller said.