Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf lacking North American standouts

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the North American 2-year-old male turf horses of 2017 are slow.

In fact, to this point in the year, and using Beyer Speed Figures as a measure, they are historically slow, and the lack of standout performances makes evaluating the prospective cast for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf a tricky process.

It also leads one to believe that European shippers, often formidable in this race in any case, might be even more potent this fall.

On to the specifics.

Untamed Domain, racing with blinkers added Sunday at Woodbine, rallied nicely to win the Grade 2 Summer Stakes, a Win and You’re In race for the Juvenile Turf. He got a 75 Beyer Speed Figure, which equals the highest figure in North America this year by a 2-year-old in a turf race.

Last year, Good Samaritan, who would finish a troubled third in the Juvenile Turf, won the Summer with a 92 Beyer. In fact, at this time one year ago, seven different horses had run races that produced Beyers of 80 and above, and 15 had earned turf Beyers of 76 or higher, all of which are higher than any 2-year-old turf horse so far in 2017.

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And it was not just the 2-year-old turf horses of 2016 that were faster to this point than the 2017 class. In 2015, 18 2-year-olds had gotten turf Beyers of 76 or higher by this point in the season. Looking back through 2007, the first year the Juvenile Turf existed, there were at least nine and as many as 20 Beyers higher than 76 by Sept. 20, and the median top Beyer was 84. One has to go back to 2004 to find a class even close to comparable to this year’s, and even those 2-year-old grass horses were faster than these.

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It’s not like Untamed Domain stamped himself a cut above with his Summer win, since the race’s top-five finishers were separated by just 1 3/4 lengths.

Two-year-old turf stakes in October could help clear the picture. Keeneland hosts the Bourbon Stakes, a Win and You’re In, on Oct. 8, while Belmont has the Grade 3 Pilgrim on Sept. 30 and Santa Anita the $100,000 Zuma Beach on Oct. 9.

Four horses in the first Juvenile Turf top 10 of the season are based overseas, but it is still early in the process of sorting potential European participants.

◗ Snapper Sinclair, who looked good winning the Fasig-Tipton Turf Showcase Juvenile over seven furlongs Sept. 8 at Kentucky Downs, will be trained up to the Juvenile Turf, trainer Steve Asmussen said. Snapper Sinclair also won a maiden turf race at Saratoga but has yet to race around two turns.