Breeders' Cup: Mostly full fields entered for Friday's Juvenile card
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fields are full for all but one of the five Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds being run Friday at Keeneland. Only the BC Juvenile, with 10 entries, is short of maximum capacity.
Entries for both the Friday and Saturday Breeders’ Cup cards were drawn Monday afternoon at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington, with the 2-year-old races being particularly crowded. A total of 69 2-year-olds, including five also-eligibles, were entered in those five races.
Billed as “Future Stars Friday,” the Breeders’ Cup events (races 6-10) are the last five races on a Friday card that starts at 11:55 a.m. Eastern. The first BC race, the Juvenile Turf Sprint, goes at 3 p.m.
Purses for the two original BC events for 2-year-olds on dirt, the Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, are $2 million. Purses for each of the other three, all on turf, are $1 million. All are Grade 1 races except the Juvenile Turf Sprint (Grade 2).
The 12-race Saturday card starts at 10:30 a.m.
BC Juvenile Turf Sprint (race 6, 3:00)
British invader The Platinum Queen was assigned the outside post as the 3-1 program favorite in a maximum field of 12 in the 5 1/2-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint.
The Platinum Queen is the rare 2-year-old who already has defeated older horses in a Group 1 event, with that victory coming in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp in her most recent start. She’s one of four fillies in a race open to horses of both sexes.
Wesley Ward, who has swept the last three runnings of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, is represented by another filly, Love Reigns.
Others in the main body include Tyler’s Tribe (post 10), the undefeated Iowa-bred phenom who’ll start just to the inside of the Bob Baffert-trained Speed Boat Beach (post 11), who got a field-high 104 Beyer Speed Figure in his September debut, on dirt.
In order of preference in case of defections prior to scratch time of 8 a.m. Friday, the three also-eligibles are Bushido, No Nay Hudson, and Monsieur Coco. No Nay Hudson is a second Ward trainee.
The Juvenile Turf Sprint and the Dirt Mile on Saturday are the only two BC events with a limit of 12 starters. As many as 14 can run in all the others.
BC Juvenile Fillies (race 7, 3:40)
Chocolate Gelato, winner of the Grade 1 Frizette, was assigned post 10 as the 7-2 favorite in a full gate of 14 in the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount for Todd Pletcher.
Wonder Wheel (post 5, 5-1) and Chop Chop (post 7, 9-2), the respective 1-2 finishers in the Grade 1 Alcibiades on opening day of the Keeneland fall meet, are among the other major players. Raging Sea (6-1), fourth in the Alcibiades after being disqualified from third, got post 14, a difficult assignment considering both the Juvenile Fillies and Juvenile are run at a “short stretch” distance, with both the start and finish being at what otherwise is the sixteenth pole.
Other notables include And Tell Me Nolies (post 3, 8-1), the top West Coast prospect off consecutive Grade 1 victories in the Del Mar Debutante and Chandelier, and Atomically (post 8, 12-1), a new Pletcher trainee who was dominant in Florida-sired company for her prior connections.
BC Juvenile Fillies Turf (race 8, 4:20)
As usual, European runners cast a major presence in the one-mile Juvenile Fillies Turf, with the Irish filly Meditate (post 10) being pegged the 4-1 program choice for trainer Aidan O’Brien. She’s one of five Euro shippers in this oversubscribed lineup of 14-plus, along with Basil Martini, Manhattan Jungle, Midnight Mile, and Spirit Gal.
Free Look (post 4) and Delight (post 9) lead the American contingent as 6-1 co-second choices, along with Be Your Best (post 6) and Xigera (post 13), the co-fourth choices at 8-1 in what’s clearly one of the most competitive races of the entire two-day weekend.
A two-filly also-eligible list, in order, consists of Bling and Alluring Angel.
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BC Juvenile (race 9, 5:00)
Cave Rock, the Baffert colt who has gone unchallenged in winning all three starts with huge Beyers, surely will be the heaviest favorite of the Friday BC events. The son of the late Arrogate was listed at 4-5 after being assigned post 3 with Juan Hernandez to ride.
Forte (post 4), the two-time Grade 1 winner for Pletcher, is the 4-1 second choice, followed by Champagne winner Blazing Sevens (post 6, Flavien Prat) at 6-1.
Baffert has a second trainee in National Treasure (post 1, 8-1). Verifying (post 5) is next in line at 10-1, while the remaining five starters are listed at 20-1 or higher.
BC Juvenile Turf (race 10, 5:40)
The British colt Silver Knott is the 3-1 morning-line choice in what figures to be a terrific nightcap going a mile. Charlie Appleby, who won three races at last year's Breeders’ Cup, trains the hard-charging colt for Godolphin.
I’m Very Busy (post 8, Prat) is the 5-1 second choice in a full gate of 14, followed by 6-1 co-third choices, Packs a Wahlop (post 2) and Andthewinneris (post 6). Victoria Road (post 1), who along with Silver Knott are the only European representatives in this race, and Major Dude (post 13) are next at 8-1, with the remaining eight starters pegged at 20-1 or 30-1.
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