Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: Euros lead jam-packed pre-entry box
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With one notable exception, the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 30 is dominated by European-based runners.
The always-popular race drew 28 pre-entries, the Breeders’ Cup announced on Wednesday, higher than in the last three years, when there were 24, 20, and 22 pre-entries.
Earlier this week, a committee of racing officials determined the 12 initial selections to start in this year’s race at 5 1/2 furlongs and were very accommodating to foreign-based runners. There are nine European-based runners and three from North America in the initial field. Of the 16 runners on an also-eligible list, eight are North American-based stakes winners.
The list of contenders selected for the field are led by fillies – Libertango, trained in Britain by George Boughey, and Brickyard Belle, trained in New York by Miguel Clement.
Libertango has won 3 of 5 starts, including two group-level stakes, and was second to the star filly Sun Goddess in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes for fillies at six furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse in Britain on Sept. 26. Sun Goddess is expected to be a strong favorite in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
Brickyard Belle won a maiden race at Saratoga on Aug. 27, and closed with a wide rally to win the Grade 3 Matron Stakes for fillies at six furlongs on turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 3.
The other North American-based runners chosen in the initial 12 are Good to Be King, winner of the Grade 3 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 3; and Harper’s Corner, who was second in the Matron in her stakes debut.
Other notable European runners chosen to start are Nabati, winner of the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at six furlongs at Newbury Racecourse near London on Sept. 19 in his group stakes debut, and Final Objective, winner of the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at five furlongs at Doncaster on Sept. 11.
The runners on the also-eligible list include Adonius, Love a Warrior, and Wood Island, the first three finishers of the Grade 3 Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 4; Arctic Wolf, winner of the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 3; and Mrs D and Go for Launch, who were first and second in the Grade 3 Algonquin Stakes at Woodbine on Oct. 3.
If there is a defection among the 12 selected runners, Crownbreaker, second in the Flying Childers, would gain a berth. Drazinda, winner of the Group 3 Prix d’Arenberg in France on Sept. 3, and Sale Shark, a minor stakes winner at York Racecourse in Britain in August and the sixth-place finisher in the Flying Childers, are next in order of preference.
The Juvenile Turf Sprint was first run in 2018 and is the youngest Breeders’ Cup race in an event launched in 1984. In the eight runnings, five of the winners were from North American stables.
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