Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Top trainers all have serious contenders
?q=100)
Five trainers have combined to win nine of the last 13 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Those same five trainers – Todd Pletcher, Bob Baffert, Brad Cox, Chad Brown, and Mike Maker – have nine of the 12 2-year-olds pre-entered for this year’s 40th running of the $2 million Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
Of the 12 pre-entrants, two – Noted and Johannes Brahms – were also pre-entered in the $1 million Juvenile Turf, with that race listed as first preference for both.
Pletcher, who is a three-time Juvenile winner including last year with Forte, and Baffert have each pre-entered three in the Juvenile, though it is not certain that Pletcher will run all three. In Locked, Pletcher has the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity winner and the tepid 3-1 favorite on the early line set by Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona.
Pletcher also has Fierceness, who comes off a seventh-place finish as the favorite in the Champagne, and Noted, who, while he did win the Sapling Stakes on dirt at Monmouth, also won on turf and was second in the Grade 2 Bourbon Stakes on turf at Keeneland.
Fierceness, an impressive debut winner at Saratoga before his Champagne flop, was scheduled to work Friday at Keeneland after which Pletcher will decide whether to send him to California or not.
Baffert has won the Juvenile five times dating back to 2002, when Vindication won it at Arlington Park. This year, he has three pre-entered in the undefeated Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity winner Prince of Monaco, the Grade 1 American Pharoah winner Muth, and the American Pharoah runner-up Wine Me Up.
Brad Cox, who won the 2020 Juvenile with Essential Quality, will send out Timberlake this year. After being upset as the favorite in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, Timberlake rebounded with a 4 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Champagne, a race run over a sloppy track.
General Partner finished second in the Champagne for Brown, who won the 2017 Juvenile with Champagne runner-up Good Magic. While Brown said he is leaning toward running General Partner in the Breeders’ Cup, he wanted to see one more work this weekend at Belmont before putting him on the plane.
Mike Maker won the 2011 Juvenile with Hansen. The Wine Steward, a New York-bred son of Vino Rosso, will be Maker’s first runner in the race since. The Wine Steward won his first three starts, all sprinting before running a solid second, beaten a half-length by Locked, in the Breeders’ Futurity.
“I thought he got beat by a very good horse, though it was a creditable race,” Maker said. “I feel he fits.”
Ecoro Neo, a Kentucky-bred son of Bernardini, is winless in two starts in Japan, where he is based with trainer Hideyuki Mori. Cuban Thunder, trained by Adrian Murray, has one win from six starts, all sprinting on turf in Great Britain and Ireland.
Johannes Brahms, a son of Siyouni, is one of three horses Aidan O’Brien has pre-entered in the Juvenile Turf, so he could possibly move this horse to the Juvenile on dirt.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.