A year before the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T), owner Paul Teasdale of RP Racing lost his longtime friend Paul Evans to lung cancer. Thus, when it came time to name a talented 2-year-old colt by Blue Point, Teasdale quickly decided on Evans’ nickname of Big Evs. The equine Big Evs paid tribute to Evans on a worldwide stage by capturing the first Breeders’ Cup race of 2023 at Santa Anita Park Nov. 3.
“It just seemed a natural thing to call him Big Evs,” Teasdale said. “Paul Evans was a personal friend of 40 years, and we went racing for 25 years together. We really wanted him to be a great horse in memory of Paul to keep his name alive, for him and his family.”
Big Evs certainly came through for Teasdale, trainer Michael Appleby, and jockey Tom Marquand. A European invader, the colt had never faced the quicker American starts nor negotiated the tighter-turn turf courses of an American racetrack such as Santa Anita.
“English gate speed is very different from American gate speed, and we were just hoping he’d be fast enough out here,” said Marquand, who was winning in his very first Breeders’ Cup attempt. “I think he’s tough as well. He had that speed today. He did break a half-length slower than a couple of them.”
Crimson Advocate , the George Weaver-trained American-based filly who won the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot, set the pace in the five-furlong, $920,000 Juvenile Turf Sprint. She posted a quick first fraction of :20.71 for a quarter-mile.
Big Evs challenged the filly around the turn.
“I’d say he was learning around the bend—he wasn’t the smoothest,” Marquand said.
Big Evs learned lightning fast, however. He battled with Crimson Advocate in the upper stretch and then had to fend off Valiant Force , closing relentlessly from the extreme outside. Big Evs responded gamely to Marquand’s urging to defeat Valiant Force by a half-length in :55.31. He paid $8.40 to win.
Starlust , another closer, finished third to complete a European-trained trifecta. Favored No Nay Mets , bred in Ireland, was the first United States-trained horse across the line in fourth, 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner after a mediocre start.
“There was a little bit of concern going around the bend because he had never raced around a bend before,” Appleby said. “So we galloped him a few times, and he did quite well.”
A private purchase this past March, Big Evs ran second in his debut and then won the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Molecomb Stakes (G3) at Goodwood. A 2-year-old facing older runners in the Aug. 25 Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) at York, Big Evs finished unplaced and then returned to capture the Sept. 15 Flying Childers Stakes (G2) at Doncaster against his age group in his last start before the Breeders’ Cup.
Rabbah Bloodstock Limited bred Big Evs in Ireland from the Oasis Dream mare Hana Lina . The second dam, Queen’s Logic, was the 2001 European champion 2-year-old filly.
Big Evs is by Blue Point , Europe’s leading first-crop sire whose other runners include Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (G1) winner Rosallion . Blue Point, a Darley stallion, stands at Kildangan Stud in County Kildare, Ireland, for 60,000 euros.
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