Dirt stroll for Liam's Map Liam's Map was a very impressive winner of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. Not much went right for the red-hot favourite, who generally races prominently but was not that quickly away from stall three and also keen at times for jockey Javier Castellano. Eventually settled in fourth, albeit in a pocket, Todd Pletcher's grey just needed hands and heels down the straight to haul in Dubai World Cup third Lea, winning with plenty in hand in a fast time. Red Vine was third. Ryan Moore and War Envoy never really threatened and finished well to the back of the field. Co-owner Vincent Viola confirmed the four-year-old Liam's Map will now be retired, and said: "I saw at the top of the stretch how he was turning, his stride was really comfortable. Once I saw him with that stride it reminded me of the first time we saw him breeze." Pletcher said: "I was very concerned. The one thing Javier talked about is that he's a horse with a lot of speed, but he's not always quick away from there on the first step. We were hoping he'd get a clean break, but he didn't and was behind horses. I was very concerned at that point. "What was so impressive is that he recovered a couple times. He got steadied about the five-eighths pole and didn't have anywhere to go. But every time Javier had to tap on the breaks a little bit you could see Liam's Map jump back into the bridle. I kept hoping. I kind of lost him at the five-sixteenths pole, but when I saw him turning for home I could see he had some momentum." He added: "Those are bittersweet moments when you retire one, it's hard to find horses this talented, so it's certainly bittersweet. "The thing going into today is that he seemed to have brilliant speed and the ability to carry it over a distance of ground. He has the high cruising speed. The thing he did today was he overcame adversity, so he took it to another level today."
