Horse Racing

Centennial Farms’ Rubiano closed fast, passing 10 horses while racing wide through the stretch in winning by a head over Sultry Song in the Grade I $500,000 NYRA Mile at Aqueduct in New York.

Jose Santos rode Rubiano, who carried 116 pounds in a field of 16 and covered a mile on a fast track in 1:33 3/5 in earning $300,000 for his fifth victory in 11 starts this year.

Rubiano passed a half-dozen horses running shoulder to shoulder at the eighth pole.

“At about the three-eighths pole I was in so much trouble,” said Santos, who was riding 10th at the time. “I can’t go inside. I can’t go outside. So I start praying.”

Santos eventually found room to move his mount far outside traffic as the field fanned into the stretch after six furlongs in a blazing 1:08 3/5. “I got to the outside right away and got clear,” Santos said. “He really ran hard.”

Rubiano returned $12, $6 and $4.40, with second-place Sultry Song paying $9 and $7 and Diablo paying $11.40 to show.

After racing on or near the lead throughout, Earle I. Mack’s Paris Opera regained the advantage in deep stretch, then held on gamely for a neck victory in the co-featured $157,450 Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap.

Ridden by Gary Stevens and carrying 116 pounds, Paris Opera was timed in 1:37 2/5 for a mile over a firm turf course in his third victory in six starts this year and earned $94,470.

Paris Opera returned $14.40, $7.80 and $6, with Daring Doone paying $7 and $4.80 for finishing second and Le Famo paying $5.80 to show.