Dermot Weld, one of the better-known trainers in the world, came into this weekend with one runner to try and improve his zero-for-16 mark in Breeders’ Cup races. Weld had said for weeks that Tarnawa represented the best chance he’d ever had to win at the Breeders’ Cup. Dermot Weld was right. With Colin Keane stepping in for named jockey Christophe Soumillon, who couldn’t ride at Keeneland because of a positive Covid-19 test, Tarnawa launched a furious rally coming off the last of three turns, flew past favored Magical and pacesetting Channel Maker in the final furlong, and won the Grade 1, $4 million Breeder’s Cup Turf by one length. :: Click to learn about our DRF's Free Past Performance program. Weld had nothing more than a lonely third-place finish from those first 16 BC starters, but Tarnawa was second to nobody Saturday. “Pretty straightforward, to be honest,” said Keane, who rode his first BC winner. “Mr. Weld said get her out the gates and ride her as you find her.” Tarnawa broke a step slowly and Keane found himself near the tail of the field going into the first turn of the 1 1/2-mile race; there the pair stayed much of the trip. Tarnawa, a 4-year-old Aga Khan homebred by Shamardal out of Tarana, by Cape Cross, had hinted at top-level ability during her 2019 campaign, but the two times Weld tried her in Group 1 races she was 11th in the Oaks at Epsom in the spring and ninth in the Champion Stakes last fall at Ascot. Tarnawa just needed to mature. Back in action this season, she easily won a tune-up race at Cork in August over the good filly Cayenne Pepper before a smashing victory in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille at Longchamp. That race came at 1 1/2 miles on good ground, and, shortening up to 1 1/4 miles while racing on heavy going at Longchamp, Tarmawa captured the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard. She was just as good Saturday. United briefly bid for the early lead, but Channel Maker wanted it more, rolled to the front going around the first of three turns, and set modest splits of 25.57 and 51.06 as the field generally sorted itself into two lines. Red King, stuck three deep with no cover, was the exception. Not much happened through six furlongs in 1:15.59, but at the back of the field around the second turn the German filly Donjah lost her action and nearly fell, recovering to race on, if ineffectively. Jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot already had two Breeders’ Cup wins on the card, and from the back of the field went for an early foray turning onto the backstretch with Mogul, who darted inside Tarnawa and into the fray. Keane waited. The mile went in 1:40.52, with Channel Maker, his head held high as ever, traveling along with purpose as early skirmishes for position began behind him. United, out of the blue and with no apparent cause, took a bad step at the three-furlong pole, losing his action for a stride and his place near Channel Maker. Now, Keane was ready, lifting Tarnawa into stride while forced wide around the turn, and as the 1 1/4-mile mark passed in 2:04.45, Tarnawa, spun about seven paths wide cornering into the homestretch, and started to stretch out. Channel Maker forged on, United slipping out of contention as Magical, the favorite, emerged as a challenger. Magical had raced between horses in the second flight, coming under a busy Ryan Moore ride early, just past the half-mile pole, to maintain the spot she had and potentially find a better one. She kicked after straightening and ground away at Channel Maker’s lead, but the big move was coming behind and outside her. :: Start earning weekly cashback on your wagering today. Click to learn more. Tarnawa, slow pace be damned, was making a beeline for the wire, and as she came relentlessly, it was clear by the furlong grounds she’d get there. The lead was hers some 50 yards out and she clipped home a very convincing victor. Winning time over the firm going was 2:28.02, which meant Tarnawa had covered her final quarter mile in 22 seconds and change. Behind her, Channel Maker valiantly battled to hold second, but Magical, good Saturday but not quite her very best self, was a nose better than he. It was nearly two lengths farther back to Lord North in fourth, who was followed by Mogul, Arklow, Mehdiyaah, United, Red King, and Donjah. Tarnawa paid $11.40 to win. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 109. Weld’s first Breeders’ Cup starter came in 1985. He won the 1990 Belmont Stakes with Go and Go, who finished unplaced in the BC Classic later that year. Weld, who is 72, stayed back in Ireland for this Breeders’ Cup, with his son, Mark deputizing at Keeneland. Post-race, he talked about how his father takes it slow the first part of each season, waiting for the big targets in the autumn. All 2020, this most difficult year, Tarnawa was being prepared for major races in September, October, November, and she won them all. “She’s tough, she’s gutsy, she’s honest,” Mark Weld said. And Tarnawa is the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner.