Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Baffert, Pletcher well positioned to add to dominance

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The last five runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile have been won by either Bob Baffert or Todd Pletcher. Further, those two Hall of Fame trainers have combined to win 11 Juveniles, all since Baffert won his first in 2002 with Vindication.

Given Baffert and Pletcher have four of the eight runners entered in Friday’s $2 million Juvenile at Keeneland, one or the other will likely add to their bounty.

Baffert, a six-time Juvenile winner, comes to this year’s edition with two undefeated colts. Hughes, by Into Mischief, is 4 for 4 with two Grade 1 wins, having dominated the competition in Southern California. Salahudin, a son of Pletcher’s 2010 Juvenile winner, Uncle Mo, is 3 for 3, doing his bidding in Baffert’s new Kentucky home.

Pletcher, who won last year’s Juvenile with Ted Noffey, and whose Forte beat Baffert’s odds-on Cave Rock here at Keeneland in 2022, counters with American History and Damavand.

American History, by Constitution, is 2 for 2 with a victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity here four weeks ago. Damavand, by Not This Time, comes in off a maiden win on Oct. 4, the day after the Futurity, which earned him a chance here.

“Todd’s got a good one, every year he comes with a good one,” Baffert said. “I told him I think it’s my turn, so we’ll see what happens. His horse looks great.”

Said Pletcher: “It feels like you could pretty much count on it every year. You’re going to have to beat Baffert if you’re going to win.”

Hughes has won his four races by a combined 24 1/2 lengths. He’s won from five furlongs to 1 1/16 miles, the first win coming in a maiden at Los Alamitos in June, the last coming in the American Pharoah, his first try around two turns, and a race on Oct. 3 at Santa Anita that he dominated by six lengths.

“Hughes is like a deer. He runs over the top of the ground, he’s quick, he stays out of trouble,” Baffert said.

If there’s a doubt about Hughes, it’s the seemingly weak competition he’s been beating.

“He’s doing it just effortlessly,” Baffert said. “He’s fun to watch because you always know he’s going to win.”

Flavien Prat will ride Hughes for the first time.

Salahudin overcame a slow start to win the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill on Sept. 12, his third win, following a maiden victory and the Ellis Park Juvenile.

“Salahudin, he’s still a step slow away from there. Once he gets his feet under him, he comes running,” Baffert said. “I think distance is going to be his friend.”

Tyler Gaffalione will ride Salahudin for the first time, as Irad Ortiz Jr., who was scheduled to ride him, suffered a broken ankle a week ago.

In 2022, Forte came into the Juvenile off a hard-fought victory in the Breeders’ Futurity. American History also had to work to get his Breeders’ Futurity win, running down dueling pacesetters Coach Pope and Q B Rocket. That race followed an easy 7 3/4-length debut victory in August at Saratoga.

“In some ways, you’d want that, especially with only having two starts,” Pletcher said of the hard race in the Breeders’ Futurity. “He didn’t get away great, he brushed the side of the gate. We weren’t in the early position that we thought he would be in. At the three-eighths pole, I didn’t know if he’d have enough time to get there. He was definitely doing his best running the last sixteenth of a mile.”

American History stayed at Keeneland and had two workouts over the track.

“Is it an advantage? Maybe. It’s not a disadvantage,” Pletcher said.

After finishing fourth in a six-furlong debut with a wide trip, Damavand came back to win a maiden by a neck at the track and trip of the Juvenile on Oct. 4.

“He trained very well and his debut was a better race than maybe it looks on paper,” Pletcher said. “We figured we’d bring him here, give him a chance around two turns. Thought he passed that test.”

Damavand is owned by Amo Racing, which also sends out Earth Song, trained by Jorge Delgado. After winning his maiden by 11 1/2 lengths sprinting at Monmouth Park, Earth Song ran in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park, where he finished fourth after getting bumped by eventual winner U. S. S. Valor in upper stretch.

Gaudreau, trained by Chad Brown, and Coach Pope, trained by Kenny McPeek, ran one-two in a maiden race where the third-place finisher was U. S. S. Valor.

Gaudreau, a son of 2015 Juvenile winner Nyquist, finished a well-beaten second to U. S. S. Valor in the Champagne. He was forwardly placed in both of his first two starts. Brown said he would like to see the horse come from off the pace Friday in the Juvenile under Manny Franco.

Coach Pope, a son of Tapit, got involved in a pace duel in the Breeders’ Futurity with Q B Rocket, and managed to beat that one for second while finishing one length back of American History.

Coach Pope did sit behind horses in each of his first two starts – including a 12 1/2-length maiden win going a one-turn mile at Churchill – and his workouts have been done sitting off a horse since the Breeders’ Futurity. He will break from post 7 in this eight-horse field, which should allow Jose Ortiz to base his ride on the break.

He Is No Lie, a son of Early Voting trained by Doug O’Neill, was beaten 13 1/2 lengths by Hughes in the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar in August. He came to Kentucky and finished within a half-length of Salahudin in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes. He will break from the outside post under Joel Rosario.

The Juvenile, whose winner has been crowned champion 2-year-old 33 times in the previous 42 runnings, goes as race 9 on the 10-race card that begins at 11:55 a.m. Eastern.