Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Prime players yet to emerge
Haven’t been paying attention to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf division yet? No worries – plenty of time. In six of the eight editions of the Juvenile Turf, the winner had most recently started during the first two weeks of October, and the next two weeks will go a long way toward sorting out the prime players in this year’s race.
Saturday’s major divisional race is the Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park, and though horses exiting the Pilgrim have placed and showed in the Juvenile Turf, no horse coming out of it has won. Several of the best-looking New York-based horses in this division aren’t in the Pilgrim, which includes only one horse currently among Daily Racing Form’s Juvenile Turf top 10, Oscar Performance. Trained by Brian Lynch, Oscar Performance finished sixth in his career debut in a two-turn Saratoga turf race but won his second start by more than 10 lengths.
The New York-based Good Samaritan, currently the leading North American-based Juvenile Turf contender, will be trained up to the Breeders’ Cup after winning the Sept. 18 Summer Stakes at Woodbine. He’ll try to emulate Pluck, who went from the Summer straight to a Juvenile Turf win in 2010 at Churchill Downs.
Todd Pletcher trained Pluck and will take the longer-layoff approach this year with Made You Look, who won the Aug. 31 With Anticipation at Saratoga and won’t start again until the Juvenile Turf.
Another New Yorker, Ticonderoga, is headed to the Bourbon Stakes on Oct. 9 at Keeneland. Ticonderoga finished a close second to Good Samaritan in their common debut at Saratoga before easily clearing the maiden ranks at Belmont. The Bourbon is shaping up as a key Juvenile Turf prep, with All Right, Keep Quiet, and Parlor also pointing to the race.
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Santa Anita’s key Juvenile Turf prep, the Zuma Beach, comes Oct. 10 and is expected to include the two leading Southern Californians, Bowie’s Hero and Big Score.
There’s a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race Sunday in France, the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, but that race has not had a significant Juvenile Turf impact since Pounced won as the 2-1 favorite in 2009 at Santa Anita.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien, who has won the Juvenile Turf in two of the last four years, including in 2015 with Hit It a Bomb, is sure to have at least one runner, but no announcements have yet come about which horses O’Brien might be sending.