Picking the most likely winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland is kind of like trying to select the pick of the litter of an attractive group of puppies. They all look good – just too similar. They’re talented, quick, and classy, and when they’ve met each other on the racetrack, little has separated them.
Welcome to Keeneland Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile maiden contest at the meet. Dan Illman's selections and analysis for Friday, Oct. 12, 2012.
The major Breeders’ Cup preps are over, and the countdown to the Cup is on in earnest. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t interesting stakes racing to be found in the interim, because there is. The big race of the day Saturday is the Grade 1, $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on the turf at Keeneland.
Imagine this training life. Began in 1959. Had 100 or more winners for 26 consecutive years, from 1972 to 1997. Won 1,303 races during his best four years (1975-1978) while never winning fewer than 300 in any of those years. Has 6,350 career winners, third all time.
Welcome to Keeneland Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile maiden contest at the meet. Dan Illman's selections for Oct. 11, 2012, at Keeneland.
Welcome to Keeneland Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile maiden contest at the meet. Dan Illman's selections for Oct. 10, 2012, at Keeneland.
Video replays and Michael Hammersly's trip notes for major stakes races from the weekend of Oct. 6-7, 2012. Includes the Champagne, Shadwell Turf Mile, Santa Anita Sprint Championship, and more.
BreezeFigs Quick-Pix Saturday October 6th, 2012
Trainer Ken McPeek won the 2009 Breeders' Futurity with an unheralded longshot, and he will try to do it again on Saturday with Java's War.
It seems that no matter which way you go Saturday, you can’t help but bump into a rich stakes event loaded with Breeders’ Cup implications. From the trio of Grade 1 events at Keeneland (plus two other graded stakes), to the trio of Grade 1 races at Belmont Park, to the Grade 1, $250,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship backed by the Grade 2, $150,000 Arroyo Seco Mile, to the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park, and to the Grade 2, $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup, Saturday is just wall-to-wall serious stakes madness.
