Breeders' Futurity field filled with potential

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The handicapping puzzle that is the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile still has a few missing pieces – and the Breeders’ Futurity might well be holding onto them.

Time for everybody to show their hands, right? Thirteen 2-year-olds will clash Saturday at Keeneland in the Grade 1, $500,000 Breeders’ Futurity, a 1 1/16-mile race that surely will produce at least a starter or two as a Win and You’re In qualifier for the Nov. 5 BC Juvenile at Del Mar.

Double Thunder, with Paco Lopez riding from post 1, is an unusually high 4-1 favorite on the Keeneland program, illustrating just how competitive the Breeders’ Futurity shapes up. Stellar Tap and Don’t Wait Up are next at 9-2, followed by Classic Causeway at 5-1 and Rattle N Roll at 6-1.

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Trained by Todd Pletcher, Double Thunder is not only the lone stakes winner in the lineup, but also the only two-time stakes winner and the only graded winner. Still, the gray Super Saver colt is unlikely to be a decisive favorite for a couple of reasons – his Beyers in come-from-behind scores in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor and Sapling were a relatively low 64 and 73, respectively, and at least several of his opponents appear loaded with potential, even with nothing beyond a maiden win to their credit.

Stellar Tap (post 3, Ricardo Santana Jr.) will be looking to redeem himself as a beaten favorite three Saturdays ago in the Iroquois at Churchill Downs, a 1 1/16-mile race won by the Pletcher-trained Major General. The gray Tapit colt scarcely could have been more impressive in his previous start, an Aug. 7 maiden race at Saratoga that resulted in a 78 Beyer. The victory made Steve Asmussen the all-time winningest trainer in North American racing history.

Don’t Wait Up (post 5, John Velazquez) also was a maiden winner at Saratoga, scoring on the closing-day card by two lengths in his second start. Trained by Tony Dutrow, he earned an 80 Beyer.

Likewise, Classic Causeway (post 13, Jose Ortiz) earned his diploma at Saratoga when getting a field-high 90 in a 6 1/2-length score on Sept. 4 for trainer Brian Lynch, who believes the best may be yet to come. Classic Causeway was sired by Giant’s Causeway, whose offspring tend to improve at longer distances.

“He’s always shown good two-turn speed” in his training, said Lynch. “Hopefully we’re on the right direction with him.”

Classic Causeway was flattered last Saturday at Churchill Downs when the runner-up from his Saratoga debut, Trafalgar, wheeled back to win a one-mile maiden race with flair.

Rattle N Roll (post 6, Brian Hernandez Jr.) broke through in his third start by winning a two-turn maiden race at Churchill on Sept. 23. The son of freshman sire Connect is trained by Ken McPeek, a two-time winner of this race with Tejano Run (1994) and Noble’s Promise (2009).

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Others eligible to emerge at longer odds include Great Escape (post 9, Tyler Gaffalione), who got a 79 Beyer in winning a seven-furlong maiden race three weeks ago at Churchill; Kevin’s Folly (post 12, Flavien Prat), third behind Gunite in the Grade 1 Hopeful off a winning debut at Saratoga; and Mac’s Time (post 10, Joe Talamo), a maiden winner on closing day of the Ellis Park summer meet for Dale Romans, a four-time Breeders’ Futurity winner (2005-11-15-17).

“He’s one we could get excited about,” Romans said of Mac’s Time.

Rounding out the lineup are Mr. Bouma, American Sanctuary, Costa Terra, and the maidens Seal Beach and King Curlin.

Post time for the Breeders’ Futurity, the ninth of 11 Saturday races, is 5:15 p.m. Eastern.

Main-track 1 1/16-mile races at Keeneland begin and end at what is otherwise the sixteenth pole.

This is the 108th running of the Breeders’ Futurity, which has had Claiborne Farm as a title sponsor since 2014. Inaugurated in 1910 at the old Kentucky Association track, it was first run at Keeneland in 1938, when Johnstown, winner of the Kentucky Derby the following spring, prevailed for Belair Stud. The 2020 winner was Essential Quality, the Godolphin homebred who went on to capture the BC Juvenile and is the leading 3-year-old of 2021.