London Bridge takes the BC Marathon Lambourn trainer Jo Hughes struck gold at Santa Anita as London Bridge ground out a famous victory in the Breeders' Cup Marathon. Most recently seen finishing fourth in a Listed race over a mile and seven furlongs at Deauville in August, Mike Smith's mount was under pressure a long way out and seemingly with it all to do turning for home some way off the leaders. But as stamina over the mile-and-six-furlong trip - a distance rarely run in America - kicked in, the Arch colt responded to Smith's urgings and really picked up to collar Blueskiesandrainbows, in the end winning going away. London Bridge's other successes this year came at Brighton, Sandown and Ripon. Smith, the winning most current rider at the Breeders' Cup, revealed he had been unimpressed with London Bridge in a piece of work earlier in the week. He said: "I didn't have a whole lot of confidence on dirt but in the paddock he was so full of energy, he wasn't like that the other day. He gets every yard of the mile-six and that was the difference. "I'm extremely happy, the connections are good friends of mine and I'm glad they didn't listen to me because I would have told them to scratch!"
