Al Muthana and Make It Snappy won Group 1 races at Kenilworth Racecourse in South Africa on Saturday, earning fees-paid berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita in November.
Both runners must be nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program to be eligible for the November races.
The Australian-bred Al Muthana (80-1) caught the previously unbeaten Charles Dickens to win the L’Ormarins King’s Plate. Al Muthana earned a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
A fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar next November is available to the winner of Saturday’s Group 1 Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini-International at San Isidro Racecourse in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Pellegrini, run at 1 1/2 miles on turf, is considered the leading race in South America, and is the first race to offer a berth to a 2023 Breeders’ Cup race. The Breeders’ Cup will be held on Nov. 3 and 4 next year at Santa Anita.
The Pellegrini drew 15 entrants, including three prominent Group 1 winners - Durazzo, El Musical, and Miranque.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The official six-furlong fractional time for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic has been amended from 1.09.62 to 1:09.27 but no other times for the race will be affected, including the final time of 2:00.05, Equibase announced on Tuesday.
Equibase said that it amended the fractional time after conducting a “comprehensive video review to verify the accuracy” of the six-furlong time.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Goodnight Olive and Elite Power not only won their respective Breeders’ Cup races, the Filly and Mare Sprint and the Sprint, in impressive fashion Saturday at Keeneland, they did so having come into the day with remarkably identical résumés.
Led by Flightline’s spectacular victory in Saturday’s $6 million Classic, the results of some Breeders’ Cup races last Friday and Saturday at Keeneland helped clearly define champions in certain divisions. But in light of the dominant performances of European-based turf runners in the Breeders’ Cup, other divisions seem to lack a clear standout in the race for year-end Eclipse Awards.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cody’s Wish, who won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile by a head on Saturday at Keeneland, will remain in training for a 5-year-old campaign, a representative of the horse’s owner and breeder, Godolphin, said.
“He came out of the Breeders’ Cup very well,” said Michael Banahan, Godolphin’s director of bloodstock for the U.S. “He’s sound, healthy, and we’re extremely excited about seeing him race next year.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Flightline’s brief but brilliant career is over.
As expected, Flightline was retired from racing Sunday morning, the day after his dominant 8 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
The official announcement came via a press release issued Sunday morning from Lane’s End Farm, where he will stand as the property of a syndicate with a stud fee still be announced, per the release.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Having bagged six of the seven Breeders’ Cup Turf races on Friday and Saturday, the European contingent that arrived in Lexington on Oct. 28 was headed home on Sunday and Monday.
The Godolphin horses were scheduled to fly to England on Sunday night, having extracted three trophies and $6.82 million in purse money from the Breeders’ Cup.
The rest of the Euros, including Aidan O’Brien’s highly successful raiding party, travel home on Monday.
LEXINGTON, KY. - Juan Leyva’s voice was still cracking with emotion leaving the Keeneland winner’s circle 20 minutes after Flightline’s breathtaking performance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic when asked to talk about the horse who has dominated so much of his life over the last two years.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Total handle on the 14 Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday and Saturday at Keeneland Racecourse was a record $161.99 million, according to charts of the races, and a 4.9-percent gain on last year's record handle of $154.45 million.
