Breeders' Cup veterans among those chasing Nunthorpe title

The Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes on Friday at York is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, and two of its entrants already have Breeders’ Cup experience.

Big Evs, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint last fall, and Live In The Dream, fourth in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, were among 14 horses to pass the final entry stage of the Nunthorpe, a Group 1 over five furlongs.

Big Evs, trained by Michael Appleby, on Wednesday was second choice in antepost wagering for the Nunthorpe. Live In The Dream was about a 12-1 shot after losing his first four starts this season.

Big Evs, meanwhile, has traded decisions this year with the 6-year-old mare Asfoora, who on Wednesday was less than 2-1, roughly half Big Evs’s price despite the fact Big Evs beat her in their common last start, the Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes on Aug. 2 at Goodwood.

Asfoora, however, was closing fast in the King George, falling just a nose short of pacesetting Big Evs, who was getting five pounds form Asfoora at Goodwood. Friday, the weights shift markedly. Big Evs, the mount of Tom Marquand, carries one pound more than Asfoora, who will be ridden by Oisin Murphy.

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Asfoora on June 18 at Royal Ascot won the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes, a five-furlong contest in which Big Evs set the pace and held third. Five furlongs at Ascot is considered more demanding than five furlongs at York, which was firm and playing fast Wednesday and should play to Big Evs’s strengths. But the weight shift and glowing reports regarding Asfoora’s training, including one from Murphy, who rode Asfoora in a recent workout, has the mare at the head of the betting market.

Six-year-old Asfoora made her first 18 starts in Australia, where she was bred, placing at the Group 1 level and winning a Group 2. She now resides in the yard of trainer Henry Dwyer, for whom, using ratings as a guide, she has reached career-best form.

Five-year-old Live In The Dream was a 28-1 upset winner of the 2023 Nunthorpe, a performance that now looks like an outlier as Live In The Dream’s only victory in his last 10 starts.

Bradsell also should be respected. Third in the 2023 Nunthorpe, 4-year-old Bradsell returned from a layoff of nearly 11 months winning a listed race in France on Aug. 4, a tune-up for a second try in the Nunthorpe. Bradsell at the peak of his powers won the 2023 King’s Stand (since renamed the King Charles III) over Highfield Princess, considered Europe’s leading sprinter during 2022 and into the first part of last year.

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