Breeders’ Cup Mile: Fabre duo the ones to fear
In a brutally competitive edition of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, an all-Andre Fabre exacta of Make Believe and Esoterique seems very much in play Saturday.
Marcus HershOct 27, 2015
In a brutally competitive edition of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, an all-Andre Fabre exacta of Make Believe and Esoterique seems very much in play Saturday.
The Breeders’ Cup late pick four sequence Saturday that ends with the Classic might be the marquee 50-cent multirace exotics offering of the weekend. But in reality, this sequence is potentially one of the least-interesting pick-whatever sequences on Friday and Saturday at Keeneland. And that is because two of the four heaviest favorites in the 13 Breeders’ Cup events – Golden Horn and American Pharoah – are in Saturday’s late pick four sequence.
If there’s a horse to keep Golden Horn from winning the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, it might be The Pizza Man. The 6-year-old gelding was a pie that took time baking, but he is now a finished product, having won the Arlington Million and rallied for second in the Shadwell Turf Mile in his last two starts.
With the Breeders’ Cup just days away, here’s a primer of what to expect from the host track, Keeneland Race Course.
A year after his Texas Red pulled a 13-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, trainer Keith Desormeaux has brought two runners to Keeneland for this year’s $2 million Juvenile, and at least one, Exaggerator, has a realistic chance of winning.
The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale saw increased activity at the top of the market and a higher average sale price on Monday, with fewer horses going through the ring and higher buyback rate compared with last year. The single-day sale finished with 162 horses sold for total revenues of $2,833,900, down 11.6 percent from last year’s two-day auction when 193 horses sold for a total of $3,206,100.
Race Day, Protonico, and Commissioner all share a few things in common: They’re accomplished older horses trained by Todd Pletcher, and all were drubbed by half a pole in their respective last starts. They also share this: Any could rebound to win the Grade 2, $200,000 Fayette Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup undercard Friday at Keeneland, and hardly anyone would be surprised.
A limited number of tickets for the Breeders’ Cup this weekend in two premium areas of the Keeneland grandstand were made available for purchase on Tuesday.
The East Coast-West Coast rivalry will be evident throughout this Breeders’ Cup weekend at Keeneland, no more so than in the $1.5 million Sprint, which features several top contenders from both camps.
Darley’s U.S. breeding operation has released its advertised fees for the 2016 breeding season for the residents of its main base at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky., and its horses standing at Sequel Stallions in Hudson, N.Y.