Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Oscar Performance to face better cast
Oscar Performance ran a field of maidens off their feet on firm Saratoga turf Aug. 20, and in his first start since then, he did the same thing Saturday to seven rivals racing over yielding ground in the Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont.
That performance makes him one of the leading contenders for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, but it’s important to realize that three of the top East Coast-based 2-year-old grass horses – Good Samaritan, Made You Look, and Ticonderoga – weren’t even in the Pilgrim.
Good Samaritan, who debuted with a Saratoga turf-route maiden win before scoring an impressive victory in the Grade 2 Summer Stakes at Woodbine, is being trained up to the Juvenile Turf by Bill Mott, as is the Todd Pletcher-trained Made You Look, who won the Grade 2 With Anticipation at Saratoga. Ticonderoga, narrowly beaten by Good Samaritan first out and an open-lengths second-start maiden winner at Belmont for trainer Chad Brown, was expected to be entered Thursday in the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland.
The Bourbon is one of two key Juvenile Turf preps this weekend, the other being the Zuma Beach at Santa Anita. That race will include the two current leaders of the division in Southern California, Bowie’s Hero and Big Score, while the Bourbon is chock-full of prospects such as All Right, Keep Quiet, and Parlor.
If there is a solid core of European 2-year-olds targeting the race, no one seems to know exactly who they are. None of the three winners of Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In races – Landfall, Best of Days, and National Defense, who won the Jean-Luc Lagardere on Sunday in France – is considered probable Juvenile Turf starters. Coolmore and Godolphin, however, have a long history of supporting the race, and it seems likely that both entities will come up with something to send to Santa Anita in the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, Conquest Farenheit, who looked like any kind of colt in winning his career debut at Woodbine but could not keep pace with Good Samaritan and finished second in the Summer, is no longer a possible Juvenile Turf runner. Trainer Mark Casse said this week that the colt, who is not BC-eligible, would not be supplemented to the race.